- Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz says he condemns Peshawar incident but Pakistan Army should not go against Taliban, denounces Constitution, asks for implementation of Sharia
- Civil society activists protest against Aziz, besiege Lal Masjid, say will continue regular protests against cleric until he apologises for defending Taliban
While the nation is mourning the massacre of minor students in Peshawar at the hands of bloodthirsty Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is looking up to the Pakistan Army for avenging the carnage, Lal Masjid’s cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz is adamant that use of force against Taliban is not the “wise option”.
Infuriated over Aziz’s denial to condemn the bloodbath in Army Public School, Peshawar, a large number of civil society activists staged a demonstration outside the infamous Lal Masjid in the federal capital on Thursday.
The entire civil society seemed to be enraged at the cleric’s hardline position and during the episode, some protesters even tried to storm the Lal Masjid.
Protesters carrying banners against the inhumane attack in Peshawar, chanted slogans against the cleric for being a ‘Taliban apologetic’.
“It’s quite a shame that even after such a barbaric massacre of innocent children in cold blood, Maulana Aziz still has a soft corner for Taliban. He wants us to spare those bas***ds who killed our children? There is no such thing as ‘good Taliban’ and ‘bad Taliban’. They can’t be allowed to keep killing us in the name of Islam,” said Usman, a university student, who was present outside Lal Masjid.
On this occasion, speakers also addressed the participants and delivered fiery speeches against terrorism.
The civil society also announced that the demonstration will be staged outside the Lal Masjid every day until Maulana Aziz does not apologise for his statement which hurt the sentiments of millions of people across country at a time when the nation was already suffering from a deep shock caused by the Peshawar massacre. They also announced to offer Friday prayers inside Lal Masjid as a sign of protest.
“The Maulana should apologise to the entire nation and declare Taliban ‘wajibul qatal’ (obligatory to kill) because our Army is doing the right jihad against the Khwarijs,” said an elderly man at the protest.
A furious exchange of words also took place between the activists and the Lal Masjid administration however the police timely intervened to prevent any untoward incident.
The police stopped the protesters and accepted an application filed by the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Islamabad General Secretary Abdur Rehman Mauvia seeking action against the protesters. The application charges the civil society representatives with “wrongly accusing Aziz for Peshawar mayhem”.
At one point when vigil participants started to get loud, the police requested for additional units to control the crowd.
SSP Operations Asmatullah Junejo also addressed the vigil participants and asked them to leave the venue, however, his speech was cut short by the attendants.
Later it was reported that an FIR has been registered against some vigil participants.
Later Thursday, Aziz condemned the incident and ‘apologised’ for “hurting the sentiments of some people”, however he defended the Taliban, terming their actions as a reaction to Pakistan Army’s operation against them.
“I condemn the incident a hundred times and apologise to those whose feelings I have hurt a hundred times. But we should consider that Army is shelling their areas without discrimination. Taliban is a power too. If you attack it, there will be a reaction too,” the cleric said, seemingly justifying the massacre which left 132 innocent children dead in the country’s worst-ever terrorist activity.
A debate kept flowing on the social media over the ‘Islamic justification’ of the Peshawar tragedy in which Taliban targeted young children.
Posts carrying the alleged Hadith, which according to Taliban “justifies killing those who had reached puberty”, remained the centre of discussion on various Facebook threads.
Hundreds of social media users from Pakistan and abroad denounced the massacre and commented in favour of strict action against Taliban and other terrorists.
Commenting over the Islamic justification of the terror act, Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC)’s Maulana Tahir Ashrafi said that Islam had no room for any such act.
“Nowhere in the Quran is it written that you can kill children. It was the worst ever bloodbath the country had ever seen. Those children were killed in cold blood. We need to be united on the national level to fight the terrorism which has affected our country,” Ashrafi said, negating Aziz’s stance for talks with Taliban.
Aziz was however quick to let go of his talks demand and sought refuge in asking for the implementation of Sharia in the country.
“I don’t say talk to them. Just implement Sharia in the country. This country’s constitution is against Islam. You believe in your constitution but I believe in Quran and Sunnah. There would have been no issues had you had implemented Sharia in the country. I assure you,” Aziz said, however reiterating his apparent condemnation over the Peshawar incident.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) President Raheeq Abbasi defended the Constitution, saying that it believed in the finality of the Prophet (PBUH) and deemed Allah to be the omnipotent. It protects our rights and gives us justice, he said, standing firm that the law was aptly based on Islam which was a peaceful religion and denounced all terror activities.
A couple of days ago, Aziz said that he respects the Islamic State (IS) because of similarity in mission and has no reservations in declaring that he holds the organisation in high regard. He said that the students of Jamia Hafsa had prepared the Arabic video extolling the IS with his consent and the girls did not commit a crime by doing so.
The Lal Masjid chief cleric went on to saying that there was no shame in declaring support for Daesh which, according to him, was out to enforce the “Islamic system.”
In the meanwhile, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has denounced the Peshawar incident, asking the government to take action against those siding with the Taliban.
“It should be clear for all to see that showing respect and concessions to terrorists and terrorism only encourages more terrorism. There has been no sign of repentance for the complicity of those hobnobbing with the terrorists or of their eager apologists. A nation in mourning demands that the political parties who refuse to sever ties with these cold-blooded killers or hasten to their defence should have no title to representing anybody,” the HRCP said in a statement on Thursday.