What happened with Salman Rushdie was reaction of Muslim Ummah: Fazlur Rehman

PESHAWAR, August 22 (SABAH): Ameer Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that what happened with Salman Rushdie was reaction of Muslim Ummah.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said this while addressing the closing session of central general assembly of JUI-F in Peshawar on Monday.

First of all, they took up voice against Salman Rushdie in 1988, he said, and added that Imran Khan should explain on whose signals he termed attacks on Salman Rushdie in America as “unjustified.” He advised the workers to come forward to help out the flood victims and don’t wait for the governments. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) since its inception has been working against corruption but it is heading nowhere, adding that only politicians are targeted in corruption cases.

The JUI-F Ameer said they were informed that government was handed over to Niazi to undermine the roots of religion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and added their elders defeated insurgencies by actions, not by just sitting at homes. He said the statements like “If Niazi allows Nimrod to contest election from his side then I may even use my right of franchise in favour of him,” are symptoms of insurgency, adding that the JUI-F cannot remain mute on such matters.

He went on to say that the class of religious scholars cannot put aside the teachings of Holy Quran and all the religious scholars of all sects are united on a point that the Constitution provides a line of action for democracy, and continued that a State should be ruled with the support of people but it should be run in the light of teachings of Quran and Sunnah. He suggested the basic target of the government should be electoral reforms and amendments in the NAB Law. About the right to vote of Pakistanis living abroad, he said, in the absence of particular procedure, there is 90 percent chance of rigging.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said, “We were in favour of giving apt representation the Pakistani diaspora. Bureaucracy needs to take this issue as serious as it is an Islamic country. Parvez Musharraf’s gift NAB dubs every Pakistani a criminal,” he deplored.