RAWALPINDI: Clerics belonging to different schools of thought are divided over the ban on the use of loudspeakers except for Azan and Arabic sermons during Friday prayers.

Maulana Ashraf Ali of the Deobandi school of thought, who is also the custodian of Taleemul Quran seminary in Raja Bazaar, said he was in favour of the ban.

“It will stop people from propagating their thoughts and creating problems for others,” he said.

Hasnain Zaidi, a spokesman for Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, also supported the government’s move and said loudspeakers should be used for Azan only. He said all the imambargahs in the city had been implementing the ban for the last about one year. He was of the view that the ban would help in maintaining peace in the city.

However, the Barelvi school of thought clerics were against the move and said the government should relax the ban and allow the recitation of Naats on the speakers.

“We are not against the ban but the government should accept the request of the majority of people,” said Maulana Nasir Ahmed of a mosque in Saddar. He said mostly mosques did not hurt the feelings of others and the ban should be imposed on those who delivered hate speeches. He said only children recited Naats from the mosque speakers.

Tehreek Nifaz Fiqa-i-Jaffariya (TNFJ) spokesman Qamar Zaidi said the TNFJ was against the misuse of loudspeakers.

The government should take action against those who were involved in the misuse of loudspeakers. But the government, he added, had failed to stop political parties from using loudspeakers and imposed the ban on mosques and imambargahs.

It may be mentioned that during the last one year, over 19 religious leaders lost their lives in sectarian killings in the city. As a result, the police banned the use of loudspeakers under the Amplifier Ordinance 1965.

When contacted, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Akhter Umer Hayat Lalika said through the violation of the Loudspeaker and Amplifier Ordinance 1965 was a minor offence but it was very dangerous in terms of the prevailing security situation. He said the police had already banned the use of loudspeakers in mosques and imambargahs except for Azan. The police also arrested a number of clerics for violating the ban.

“Total 257 cases were registered in the Rawalpindi division for the violation of the law: 87 in Rawalpindi district, 52 in Attock, 71 in Jhelum and 47 in Chakwal.” He said Rawalpindi was the only division in the province where cases were registered against the violators of this law.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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