LAHORE – The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Tuesday passed two unanimous resolutions against the desecration of the Holy Quran by US Pastor Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp at Florida, US. Members from both the treasury and opposition benches joined hands and chanted anti-US slogans and blamed the US and Israel for the incident. The members of provincial assembly (MPA) also staged a protest led by PA Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood. As soon as the House proceedings started, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Parliamentary Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin drew the attention of MPAs over the sad incident.
He requested the chair to give permission for moving a resolution against the shameful act on which Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the treasury benches also want to do the same. Sanaullah moved the first resolution stating, “The Punjab Assembly expresses its serious concerns and anger over the incident which took place under the supervision of Terry Jones, a cursed priest of a Florida Church, where a pastor set ablaze the most honourable book of the world known as Quran”. The resolution said that the action of the priests had badly hurt the feelings of all Muslims of the world.
The House demands the federal government to take up this issue at the international level and this incident should be officially condemned. The House also demands that a case should be filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against all people responsible for this incident.
Sanaullah said that Jones had already announced that he will do this shameful act but owing to international pressure he had changed his decision but he again made the same announcement and fulfilled his words on March 20. The Punjab law minister said that the pastor will have to face God’s wrath for his this unforgivable sin. Zaheeruddin, through his resolution, declared Jones as an enemy of Muslims saying that the pastor had the backing of US and Israel.
Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz, on a point of order, condemned the incident and assured the House that he would talk to the federal government to summon the US ambassador to express anger over the sad and shameful act. He said that this action could not be tolerated and the US will have to face the anger of Muslims. Riaz said that PPP founder and former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had organised the Islamic Conference in 1974, which had gathered all Muslims on one platform. Mashood said that this is not a time for point scoring and all members should take the issue seriously. Afterwards, he adjourned the house’s session until Friday morning. Before the House’s adjournment, Mashood led all other members who gathered in front of the PA to stage a protest.
