Leading clerics from all schools of Islamic thought joined hands to make an unconditional condemnation against the shocking lynching of Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Diyawadana in Sialkot last Friday.
Three days after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s statement which indirectly linked the incident to an international conspiracy against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, Mufti Taqi Usmani, the president of Wifaqul Madaris al-Arabia – a powerful board of religious seminaries of Deobandi schools – along with Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Dr. Qibla Ayaz in Islamabad, read a joint statement condemning the tragedy as an inhumane act which had brought shame to the entire nation.
CII Chairman Dr. Ayaz, while reading the joint statement on Tuesday, said that the lynching was an inhumane act and blasphemy accusations without proof were against Islamic Shariah.
They earlier met at CII headquarters in Islamabad to discuss the incident. Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Religious Harmony Tahir Ashrafi, clerics from Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadith, and Shia schools including Wifaq Secretary General Qari Hanif Jalandhri were present in the meeting, according to the CII statement.
The clerics also expressed full support for the prime minister’s decision to award Tamgha-i-Shujaat (Medal of Bravery) to Malik Adnan [man who tried to save Diyawadana from fanatics].
Dr. Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek also issued a strong statement a day before against the brutal murder of the manager.
Moreover, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq had called for taking strict action against those involved in the killing of Diyawadana on the same day of the incident.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal, who himself was wounded in May 2018 in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman linked to an ultra-religious party, also expressed shock over his party’s ally Maulana Fazl’s statement a couple of days ago, asking the JUI-F leader to take back his words and issue an unconditional condemnation.
PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also expressed shock over the statement of Maulana Fazl on December 5, saying that he should have condemned the tragedy in ‘clear’ and ‘blunt’ words.
Furthermore, PTI Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, whose own party leader and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak came out with a bizarre explanation behind the tragedy on Monday, hailed the stance of the PML-N and the PPP on JUI-F chief’s statement two days ago.
Fawad Chaudhry also termed the meeting of PTI Senator Ijaz Chaudhry with TLP chief Saad Rizvi an absurd move. Senator Ejaz, who met TLP chief Rizvi last month as a gesture of goodwill, said he would not reply to foul comments of his colleague.
Fanatics, during the lynching of the Sri Lankan national were shouting slogans often raised by the TLP workers. The TLP, however, condemned the incident saying that linking the lynching to the party was equally painful as the tragedy itself.
