Minorities ask government to ban “Red Mosque” and its imam
Peshawar (AsiaNews) – The All-Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) urged the government on Sunday to ban the Jamia Hafsa (Red Mosque) brigade and take legal action against clerics involved in keeping women and foreigners in illegal confinement.
“Minorities, our daughters and our sons are worried by terrorist elements who are frightening them,” said APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti while addressing a minorities convention of the APMA Provincial Executive Council. “If extremism and talibanisation were not stopped, Pakistan will become like Afghanistan”, he added.
The Pakistani population has clashed with Jamia Hafsa over its persistent requests that the government further “Islamise” Pakistan. The leaders of the Islamic religious institute have repeatedly declared themselves “ready to lay down their lives to have Sharia enforced in country, if necessary by violence”.
These are no empty threats. Last March, female students from the madrassa attacked what they claimed was a brothel in the Pakistani capital and held two women hostage, accusing them of being the owners. The two women were released only after having signed a document in which they admitted to “having behaved in a non-Islamic way”.
In a second episode, the Mosque leaders asked for a fatwa against moderate Islam, “the principal cause of obscenity in the country” and threatened the government, telling them to “[p]ut our law into action, or we will do it ourselves by every means available to us”.
Bhatti said that Jamia Hafsa and its affiliated bodies have been openly challenging the writ of the government by frequently kidnapping people, including women, foreigners and public servants, but instead of confronting them, the government has been encouraging them. “These religious groups have been misinterpreting Islam and curtailing fundamental rights of individuals,” he added.
He said that some “black laws” are still in force, violating the rights of minorities.
“The Hudood Ordinance still hangs on our heads like the Sword of Damocles. The blasphemy law is still misused and innocent persons are put behind the bars.” Mr Bhatti claimed.
“Those who consider us second class citizens should bear it in mind that our forefathers made sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan and we too have equal rights in this country. We won’t allow some religious extremists to take the entire country hostage and impose their own extremist views on the whole of society,” Mr Bhatti maintained.
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