LAHORE: The Tahafuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz organised a rally on Monday at the Mall Road against terrorist blasts at various religious shrines and staged a sit-in outside the CM’s House.
The rally started from the Data Darbar and was attended by around 200 to 300 people mostly belonging to various religious seminaries, a number which was confirmed by an intelligence official. The participants chanted slogans against the US, UK, Jews and other Western countries.
They condemned the federal and provincial governments for failing to combat terrorism and protecting shrines of saints. After the afternoon prayers, the protesters staged a sit-in infront of the CM House for almost three hours.
During the protest, the Punjab government officials contacted the protesters but they refused to end their protest. Afterwards, Religious Affairs Coordinator Mufti Intikhab Ahmed, Lahore DCO Ahad Khan Cheema and the CM’s deputy secretary held hectic negotiations with the protesters and persuaded them to end their protest.
Tahafuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz spokesman Ziaul Haq Naqshbandi told journalists that the Punjab government officials had assured them that their demands would be met within the next 48 hours. The organisation’s leader Allama Ashraf Jalali, addressing the protesters, said that the Ahle Sunnat wanted to see terrorists being hanged in public for attacking shrines and killing innocent people.
Mahaz President Allama Raza-e-Mustafa and General Secretary Muhammad Ali Naqshbandi said that as long as Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was working on his post, peace could not be restored in Punjab. “He is patronising terrorists,” they alleged.
The protesters, through a resolution, demanded the government to crack down against all mysterious seminaries. “We demand the government to remove the loopholes in the investigation process, which allow terrorists to be easily acquitted,” they said.
The protesters also demanded foolproof security arrangements for all shrines and leaders of the Sunni sect. Hafiz Khan Muhammad Qadri, Nawaz Bashir Jalali, Mufti Masood, Maulana Naeem and others also spoke on the occasion.
