Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) refused the dinner invitation by Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood on Wednesday. PA speaker had arranged the dinner in the assembly premises to honour the religious scholars of different sects in his constituency PP 149 Lahore and the SIC turned down the invitation to register its displeasure against the Punjab government’s policies towards SIC.
Through Rana’s personal contact, prominent religious scholars of the area were requested to grace the occasion but the leadership of Brailvi scholars from Gulshan Ravi, Sandah, Rajgarh and Samanabad, after a consultative meeting, declined to oblige. According to sources, SIC Ulema Wing Vice President Allama Muhammad Naeem Javed Noori and other office bearers including Syed Tanvir-ul-Hassan, Haji Shafiq Kailani, Qari Nazir Saeedi, Qari Akbar Ali, Maulana Saif Ullah are prominent among those who steer the SIC scholars to stay away from PML–N’s events.
Noori told Pakistan Today that they did not attend the Punjab government’s functions because they had policy differences with PML–N. He alleged that the Punjab government was playing in the hands of terrorists groups. He also expressed his reservations with Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah, against whom PML–N did not take any action after Sanaullah was found helping a banned religious outfit, Sipah-e-Sahaba.
Noori said he was displeased with the government for cancelling the plot allotment to Jamia Rizvia, Faisalabad, which he said was the seminary of their leader, Haji Fazl-e-Karim.
“We will give the answer to PML-N in the next general elections. Mosques are our forts and we will use these forts to let the people know about Mian brothers,” said Noori. A few days ago a Lahore-based PML–N MPA said that the CM had advised him to ensure close liaison with the religious scholars of his constituency.
