Over 20 religious parties initiate 'Nizam-e-Mustafa movement'
Women's Protection Bill was criticised by religious leaders during the meeting
LAHORE (Dunya News) – More than a hundred leaders of over twenty religious parties attended the Nizam-e-Mustafa conference held at Mansoora on Saturday and vowed to oppose all efforts being made to make the country a secular state, reported Dunya News.
The leaders bashed Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, stating that the former is attempting to make the country liberal whilst the latter is gathering all the liberal forces.
The leadership decided to form a supreme council in this regards and to initiate a country-wide ‘Nizam-e-Mustafa movement’. The movement will start from Rawalpindi and will arrange a million-march towards Islamabad after holding conferences in Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore.
The religious leaders criticised the Women’s Protection Bill formulated by the Punjab government and announced to present a similar bill as a substitute in the National Assembly and Senate. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman stated that the Prime Minister and Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif want to have negotiations regarding the bill. He added that we are not denying negotiations but the movement will not halt.
The joint declaration stated that the government will not be allowed to make amendment in the blasphemy law but at the same time, the religious parties were unable to formulate a bill as substitute to the Women’s Protection Bill. However, consensus is being developed upon various suggestions placed forward by the religious parties.
