Clerics on Friday said the Jaranwala rampage was against the teaching of Islam and called on the government to take strict actions against perpetrators. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), prominent religious scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani called the Jaranwala incident “shameful” and “highly condemnable”. “If someone has committed an unlawful act, no one is authorised to take law in his hand and burn the church or assault any peaceful Christian citizen,” he stressed. Mufti Taqi further stated that the incident was “totally against the basic and classic Islamic teachings” and “is tantamount to defacing Islam and Muslims”. He also called on the government to take action against it. Separately, in a press conference, Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad said a high-level commission should be constituted to probe the Jaranwala rampage. “We should remember that Pakistan is a state and will take action against anyone doing anything wrong. But not everyone has permission to set up their own courts and set houses on fire,” he asserted, recalling the times when the Christian community stood with Muslims and protested against the desecration of the Holy Quran. “We have been ashamed in front of the entire world,” he said. “We have always, from Karachi to Khyber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir to Gilgit-Baltistan, propagated interfaith harmony.” Pakistan, Maulana Azad continued, belonged to everyone. “Whether it is the Holy Quran, Torah or Zabur … their respect and honour is a part of our faith.” The scholar then read out a verse from the Holy Quran and said that the murder of one person was the murder of humanity while saving one life was equivalent to protecting humanity. “Today, our hearts are surely aggrieved […] I just arrived from Madina today but when I received reports about this incident I was in extreme pain.” Maulana Azad demanded that those involved in the Jaranwala violence should be given an “exemplary punishment” and stressed the need to make Pakistan free of violence, terrorism and disruption.