Islamabad - The local police have booked 46 prayer leaders of Islamabad mosques over violation of amplifier act in just 23 days of January 2015 as compared to 178 in the whole year of 2014.
The message is quite clear and simple. The authorities want that at least the mosques are not used for spreading hatred amongst the society as envisaged in the National Action Plan (NAP). On Friday also, the Margalla police booked Maulavi Israrullah of Masjid Haqqania at Faisal Avenue Islamabad for violating section 144 imposed by the deputy commissioner Islamabad, banning use of loudspeakers in the mosques except for ‘Azan’ and Friday sermon. According to police sources, 46 prayer leaders have been booked so far in the month of January alone though the ratio in year 2014 was quite low in number. The decision to ban use of loudspeaker is part of the NAP which also seeks registration and regulation of seminaries and countering hate speech and extremist material.
However, as compared to the registration of FIRs against the prayer leaders, the arrests made so far are quite less in number. The crackdown is limited only to the registration of cases against the violators and nothing more. The reason is that the government does not want to open another front at this time in point and the action is just a warning to the amplifier-happy speakers, said a senior ICT officer. So far, the local police have arrested and produced just 5-6 prayer leaders in the concerned courts and they too have been released on bail. The action has sent a wave of unrest amongst the Ulema community of the capital. They have recorded their quiet protest with the high-ups of the ICT administration with a warning that they would be left with no option but to agitate in case the authorities did not stop what they termed harassment of the Ulema.
According to a senior officer in the ICT administration, the administration too did not want to engage in this matter so vigorously owing to complications involved in the matter. He said that purpose of registering cases against Ulema is just a warning so that they seize to spreading, if any, hatred amongst the society as is the need of the time.