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| India-Pakistan |
| Application filed against Sultan Masjid prayer leader |
| 2011-01-10 |
| [Pak Daily Times] The Darakshan police has received an application to register a case against the prayer leader of the Sultan Masjid for allegedly issuing a fatwa against Pakistain People's Party leader Sherry Rehman for tabling a bill to amend the blasphemy law. We had that story yesterday... Political analyst Ali K Chishti filed the application. In the application, he urged the police to register a case against the Sultan Masjid prayer leader Munir Ahmed Shakir and take action against him according to the law, as he had allegedly declared Sherry a non-Mohammedan and demanded the death sentence for her during his Friday sermon. When contacted, Sultan Masjid Imam Munir Ahmed Shakir denied issuing fatwa against Sherry. "No, no! Certainly not!" Shakir said he was not a mufti. "So how could I issue a fatwah? I ain't got a license." "In my opinion, the facts are open about Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's murder, none should try to hatch conspiracies in this regard." "But whether I got a license or not, the facts are open and shut!" He said everyone should remain in the limits of law and constitution. However, one who commits blasphemy would be sentenced to death under the country's law. "And calling for the blasphemy laws to be repealed is the same thing as committing blaspehemy! It's in the Koran someplace! You could look it up!" SHO Rana Amjad confirmed that the police had received an application and said the initial investigation suggested that there was no evidence to prove that Shakir was guilty, as he already denied issuing any fatwa. "We monitor the Sultan Masjid every Friday and we did not hear anything regarding a fatwa... upon the complaint, we again -- through our reliable police and intelligence sources -- tried to investigate the matter, but no one confirmed the issuance of a fatwa by the said prayer leader," the officer said. "We told the applicant to bring evidence and later the case would be registered and the complainant assured us that he would bring evidence within a week," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |