The Awami National Party (ANP) has decided to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan to protest over the Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) use of a mosque to campaign for the general elections.
The move follows JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan’s address at a political gathering in a mosque on University Road in Peshawar on Wednesday afternoon.
ANP’s provincial General Secretary Arbab Mohamamd Tahir told a local newspaper that the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) President Senator Afrasiab Khattak will write a letter in a couple of days to the ECP to protest against the gathering in the mosque.
Tahir explained that JI had arranged a function at Spin Jumaat (White Mosque), which was addressed by Hasan. He added that if one political party started using mosques for electioneering, then other parties would also follow suit. He said the letter will also be forwarded to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Tahir stated that the use of mosques for election campaigning amounted to violation of ECP’s code of conduct and called on the commission to take notice of such violations on its own, irrespective of whether a party approaches it or not.
However, the provincial spokesperson for JI, Israrullah denied his party was using mosques to campaign for the May 11 polls.
He said his party was conducting its meetings in open spaces and at hujras and did not use religious places.
Hitting out at the ANP, Israrullah claimed that it was facing many problems because of the ‘wrong policies’ it pursued over the past five years of its governance in KP.
Defending Wednesday’s gathering, the spokesperson claimed it was not slated to be held in the mosque and they had planned the programme outdoor at the public square. However, they were approached by the police to move inside the mosque due to heavy rain at the time.
