Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Affairs Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Thursday said that blasphemy laws were not being misused anywhere in Pakistan.

Talking to scholars and leaders of different schools of thought, he said that the believers of all sects and religions respected the sacredness of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He said that the young generation should be made aware of the true teachings of Islam through modern media.

He said that anti-Islamic and anti-Pakistan forces used social media to create chaos in Pakistan. He said that he did not support any ban on the social media but a code of conduct should be formulated in that regard. He said that a meeting of leaders and representatives of sects and religions had been convened in Lahore on May 30 with the aim to create complete harmony and brotherhood.

OFFICIAL SERMONS

The prime minister’s aide said that there was no proposal under consideration for official sermons in mosques as some vested interest political elements wanted to use religion against the government. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was the real spokesman of the Muslim Ummah on the issues of Palestine, Finality of the Prophethood and Islamophobia.

Pakistan was a great power of the Islamic world, he said, adding that it had today much better relations with the Islamic world and the Arab world as compared to the last 10 years. He said that Pakistan’s position on the issue of Palestine was being appreciated throughout the Islamic world.

He said the boards of new Islamic seminaries had been formed at the request of their administrators. Those in charge of the new boards had never been a part of power, contrary to the ones in the old boards, who had been a part of various governments since 1980 and still hold public office, he said.

The special assistant said that a committee headed by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri had been constituted on the prime minister’s directives regarding the Abandoned Waqf Property Board Act.