(National): Mammoth rally of religious parties in Karachi demands ending hate speeches

Karachi:Different parties and organizations belonging to Ahl-e-Sunnat school of thought staged a massive ‘Tahaffuz-e-Namoose Risalat and Azmate Sahaba wa Ahlebayt’ rally, led by Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman here on Saturday.

A large number of Karachiites participated in this mammoth rally, which started from Mazar-e-Quaid and marched on MA Jinnah Road to the Tibet Center. Rally participants raised slogans against unscrupulous seatrain elements who had been delivering hate speeches in their programs.

Besides Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, Allama Shah Abdul Haq Qadri, Allama Kokab Noorani Okaarvi, Haji Hanif Tayyab, Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, Bilal Saleem Qadri, Allama Liaquat Azhari, Mufti Jan Naeemi, Mufti Abid Mubarak, Allama Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Muhammad Ali Shah, Allama Razi Hussaini, Mufti Rafi Rehman, Rehan Amjadi, Haji Rafiq Pardesi, Rafiq Suleiman and others were present.

Addressing the rally, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman said that the march was not against any particular sect but against an act to hurt religious sentiments of the majority of the country. He termed such hate speeches ‘biggest terrorism’.

Pointing at the crowd, he said, “These are all peaceful citizens, if one tries to be corner them, then they too can adopt negative activities.”

He said that Sahaba and Ahle Bayt are the most respectable figures for us. He said the Prime Minister took notice of the matter but no action was taken as yet against those who had delivered hate speeches against the Sahaba Karam.

Mufti Muneeb appealed to the President of Pakistan, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff to take serious notice of the issue and take action against particular elements who are bent to undermine the religious harmony in Pakistan.

He said that the Sindh government should also take action in this regard. He warned that if the Sindh government continued to support such elements then the faithful people of the city would not vote to the ruling party.

He said that he wanted to question the authorities if this was a gathering of millions. Aren’t they Pakistanis? Don’t they have religious rights?

He warned that he was only sending a message of peace today, but if no action was taken against the culprits then he would decide on future course of action.

Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman also criticized the media, saying it was not playing an impartial role. “The news of Cynthia Ritchi kept coming in the headlines for weeks and months. The media keeps on showing Indian films and songs to the people but the voice of the Ahl-e-Sunnat majority was suppressed, he regretted.