What is happening in Jaranwala is sad & disturbing: Shehbaz

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD, Aug 16 (SABAH): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former prime minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that what is happening in Jaranwala is sad and disturbing. He said that there is no place for violence in any religion.

In a statement issued on twitter on Wednesday, Shehbaz Sharif said that all religious places, Holy Books and personages are sacred and deserve our highest level of respect.

“I urge the government to take action against the culprits. I also appeal to Ulema, Mashaykh and religious scholars from all schools of thought to come forward and condemn the reprehensible actions. Such madness can’t be allowed. Pakistan belongs to all religious minorities” Shehbaz Sharif said.

Meanwhile PML-N Spokesperson and former minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has condemned in strongest possible terms the ransacking of church and setting Christians homes on fire in Jaranwala.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Marriyum Aurangzeb said that this incident is shameful and a condemnable and demanded of the Punjab government to take action against it forthwith. She added those who took the law into hands should be punished.

The former minister for information and broadcasting urged upon safeguarding of locals and added the churches and the homes which were set on fire must be rehabilitated. She added the Christian community played a vital role in establishment of Pakistan, saying the white color in the national flag represents the minorities.

“If the perpetrators, planners and facilitators of May 9 would have been punished, incidents like Jaranwala would have not occurred.  On May 9, mosques, schools, ambulances, Jinnah House and state buildings were set on fire while desecration of martyrs and national monuments was committed,” she noted.

Marriyum Aurangzeb remarked, “The country where May 9 like incidents are encouraged, their criminal acts supported, there extremists and rioters will surely become out of control. Today it is the day for Imran Khan to ponder over the way he spread anarchy in the country that his venom created by him is proving disastrous.”

The former information minister condemned in strongest possible terms the ransacking of church and setting Christians homes on fire in Jaranwala and sympathized with the Christian community.