KARACHI, April 26: Students of religious seminaries here on Thursday staged their first rally in support of the demands of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid of Islamabad. Besides other clerics, Maulana Abdul Aziz, Khatib of the Lal Masjid, and Ghazi Abdul Rashid, administrator of the Jamia, spoke to the rally by the telephone.

The participants of the rally, organised under the banners of `Tehreek Talaba-o-Talibat, Karachi chapter’, at the Karachi Press Club, were holding placards inscribed with slogans in support of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid. Some of the slogans read: `Shariat or Shahadat’, `The present system is obscenity system,’ etc.

Maulana Abdul Aziz said Pakistan was created in the name of Islam for which millions of Muslims had laid down their lives. But despite waiting for the last 60 years for the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country, it was not done.

“We paid our full attention to education and propagation of Islam as education and propagation are also a source of spreading Islam, but the best way is Jihad,” he said.

Pointing out that today infidels, the corrupt, oppressors and tyrants were free to move about at will but noblemen were hiding their faces. However, he said, “despite our weakness, we the Talaba and Talibat have decided to face the challenge. We know very well that this path is troublesome, but we are determined not to end the occupation of the children’s library until the Islamic system is enforced in the country

“Either we will succeed in achieving our objective or embrace martyrdom as we are not afraid of laying down our lives for the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country”, he said and added that they were the guards of the sisters and mothers but not against anyone .

“Our Jihad is against the oppressors, tyrants and the corrupt. We are not afraid of prisons either,” he said and asked people to persuade those running obscenity dens and video centres to close them down. Instead of forcing them to close their dens they should be approached with logic, he said.

Maulan Aziz said that in the first phase they wanted to eliminate obscenity and immorality dens to be followed by a struggle against adulteration, bribery and poverty.

Ghazi Abdul Rashid criticised MQM chief Altaf Hussain “who had started politics of extortion and body bags”. Blaming him for the killing of many religious scholars and the Nishtar Park tragedy, he said it was deplorable that now he was taking out rallies against them and asking people to issue Fatwas whether offering prayers in Jamia Hafsa was right. He did not know, the cleric said, that Jamia Hafsa was not a mosque but an educational institution where prayer was not offered but education was imparted.

He said that it was the right time for the enforcement of the Sharia in the country, “otherwise history will not forgive us.”Mufti Usman Yar Khan of the JUI-S said that time had come that Islam-loving people rose to enforce Islam in the country achieved in the name of Islam.

He paid tribute to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for taking a stand “against a tyrant”. He also criticised the government for the detention of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and termed it a shameful act.

The others who spoke at the rally included Maulana Noorul Huda, Maulana Hafeez-ur-Rehman and Maulana Noorul Haq.

On the occasion, over a dozen resolutions were also presented in support of the enforcement of the Islamic system. By one of the resolution the rally termed the movement for the enforcement of Sharia beginning at Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid as the voice of every Pakistani. By another resolution it demanded a halt to “false and baseless propaganda against students of Jmaia Hafsa as none of them had thrown acid on nor had stopped anyone from driving cars.