LAHORE: A joint declaration formulated by the participants of ‘Tahafuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabowat and Pakistan Stability Conference’ warned the government to declassify Raja Zafarul Haq report by February 20 or else face countrywide protests and sit-ins.
The participants of the conference warned the government of nationwide protests if it failed to make the Raja Zafarul Haq report public before the deadline. The conference also announced to observe ‘Finality of Prophethood Day’ on February 7 all over the country.
More than 1,000 religious scholars from all over Punjab attended the conference held here on Sunday at Al-Hamra Hall under the aegis of the Pakistan Ulema Council. Pakistan Ulema Council Chairman Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi presided over the conference.
The participants of the conference, while condemning the tirade of the United States (US) President Donald Trump against Pakistan, also rejected the US declaration for putting Pakistan on the ‘watchlist’ of those countries that were notorious for clamping down on religious freedom. The conference also denounced a recent US drone strike inside Pakistani territory and demanded the government to maintain diplomatic relations with US on the basis of equality.
The participants also observed that external and internal elements were trying to make changes to the finality of prophethood clause in the constitution to attack the Muslim faith. They demanded from the government to expose the elements who were involved in the entire incident.
They also demanded a complete ban on literature related to the Ahmedi faith while condemning the incumbent government’s move to remove the column related to religious identification from the computerised national identity card (CNIC).
Further, they announced that Pakistan Ulema Council would take part in the 2018 general elections and for this purpose the council would form an electoral alliance with religious and political organisations sharing a common ideology with the Pakistan Ulema Council.
The participants also demanded from the federal interior ministry and provincial governments to lift the ban on the registration of seminaries and mosques and remove the names of innocent religious and political leaders from the Fourth Schedule.
Moreover, the participants of the conference appealed to the political and religious leadership of the country to refrain from using critical language about state institutions. Issues related to the judiciary should be settled within the bounds of judiciary instead of being discussed all over the media, the participants concluded.