HYDERABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Thursday took out a big rally and held a public meeting in Hyderabad against closure of seminaries in the country in the name of the ongoing military operation against terrorists.

JUI-F leaders speaking to the participants at Koh-i-Noor Chowk warned of a Islamic revolution if seminaries and ulema continued to be targeted “ at the behest of anti-Islam forces”.

Senator Attaur Rehman said that there it was mere propaganda that 10 per cent of seminaries in the country were involved in fomenting terrorism. He said it was also illogical and unfair that the remaining 90 per cent seminaries were also being targeted. He called for the arrest of those who masterminded Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro’s assassination. He said it was strange that the actual killers were arrested but the mastermind was not being touched.

Editorial: Banks and madressahs

He said seminaries were being closed on the flimsy grounds but looters, plunderers and corrupt elements were pardoned under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). How may ulema and other religious scholars produced by seminaries benefited from the NRO or were facing NAB (National Accountability Bureau) cases? he asked.

Asking heads of seminaries and other ulema not to share data of their respective seminaries with government functionaries, the senator said that the Wifaqul Madaris was there to provide all details to the relevant authorities.

“The masses are inclined to Islam and following its teachings ... they will never compromise on seminaries,” he declared.

Senator Rehman also condemned moves against JUI-F, and warned that by making attempts to force the party out of the political arena the perpetrators were actually inviting an Islamic revolution. “Neither the super power nor any other power will be able to stop it,” he warned.

He said that over two million students were learning Islam at seminaries in the country, and recalled in 1857 the colonial power eliminated no fewer than 60,000 ulema but failed to crush Islam and Muslims. He predicted that the JUI-F would rule over Pakistan and introduce a true Islamic system in the country.

Sindh JUI-F chief Qari Moham­mad Usman told the audience that Rangers had distributed a form among seminaries and asked them to submit it within 24 hours but ulema met the Rangers authorities in Karachi and convinced them to introduce a new form. It would soon replace the old one, he said.

Sindh JUI-F general secretary Allama Rashid Mehmood Soomro said that the Sindh government had recently stated that tribal hostilities in the province had left around 20,000 people dead so far. Yet, he wondered, tribal chieftains were still sitting in the Sindh cabinet.

He also called for removal of Ahmadis from key positions in Ghotki, and warned that their offices would be besieged if the demand was not met within a week.

He demanded immediate arrest of the mastermind of Dr Soomro’s assassination and announced that a rally from Sohrab Goth to CM House would be taken out on May 1 if the government failed to apprehend them. He said the rally had already been delayed for a month on the request of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Qazi Ahsan Ahmed announced that the JUI-F would hold a Khatm-i-Nabuwwat conference on April 24 in Hyderabad.

Maulana Mohammed Ghayas, Mau­lana Essa Samoon, Nasir Mehmood Soomro, Siraj Ahmed Shah Amrothi, Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, Abdul Qayoom Haleji and others also spoke.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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