Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam throws down the gauntlet in Pakistan

New Delhi/Islamabad, Aug 12 (IANS) Islamic organisations in Pakistan have been pursuing their conservative agenda with traditional fervour, challenging the governments decision on issues that are aimed at introducing moderate values in the society.

The chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Maulana Fazalur Rahman, stated on Wednesday that the Waqf Property Act and the Domestic Violence Bill are against the teachings of Islam, the Constitution of Pakistan and ‘eastern' values.

The Islamic identity of the nation should be maintained at any cost, Rahman said. He said this at the end of discussions with a number of Islamic scholars and leaders in Karachi.

The Domestic Violence Bill primarily aims at putting in place a set of stringent norms against those indulging in domestic violence. However, conservative Muslim leaders have been opposing it on the grounds that such laws are against Islam.

Separately, the central joint secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Nazryati), Mehmood Ul Hasan Qasimi, stated on Wednesday that the prophecies of Mujahid Mullah Umar of 21 years ago about the defeat of America was proving to be true today.

Addressing a gathering, he said that the world has seen how the superpower America has accepted defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban.

He said that very soon the Mujahedeen will wave the flag of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan and the puppet government of Kabul will come to an end, facing similar insult as the Americans faced.

He further mentioned that Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is devoid of vision and is presently living as a tenant in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Jamaat-e-lslami Pakistan, Sirajul-Haq said on Thursday that the system of the Quran and Sunnah is the only solution to the problems faced by human beings.

He mentioned that the buildings of socialism and capitalism had collapsed and the world is being driven by international financial institutions.

In this context, he criticised the PTI for having dragged the nation to slavery at the hands of the IMF and World Bank.

The real rulers of the country, he said, are the international financial institutions and the people sitting in Islamabad are only working as facilitators or puppets.

He said the extent of poverty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is an indication of the lack of interest the leadership has in ensuring welfare of the state and its people.

He also reiterated the fact that there has been serious unemployment year after year with the government taking no cognisance of the impact it has had on families in the region.

Such rhetorics coming from conservative leaders in Pakistan are an indication of the prevailing mindset in core Islamic circles in the country, which would also have an impact on the situation evolving in Afghanistan.

Support for the Taliban has been at the top of the agenda of these leaders and Pakistan has often been using this rhetoric as natural pressure being built from ‘internal elements' which makes it difficult for the government to pursue a hands off policy vis-a-vis Afghanistan.