LAHORE - Special Representative to the Prime Minister for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi Monday strongly condemned the suicide blast inside a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines in which more than 25 people were martyred. Talking to the media at Jamia Manzoorul Islamia here, he said that ulema and mashaikh had always rendered their lives for Islam and security of the country. More than 8,000 ulema had sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism, he added. Ashrafi, who is also the chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), said that those who killed innocent humanity had nothing to do with Islam and Muslims. He said that security agencies and people of Pakistan together defeated terrorism and extremism in the past and even now, the conspiracies of elements hostile to Pakistan to weaken the country would not succeed. Ashrafi said desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden was not freedom of expression, but it was an attempt to disrupt world peace, adding that the Swedish government should take action against perpetrator and award them an exemplary punishment. Religious leaders Peer Naqeemur Rehman, Sahibzada Hassan Haseeb Ur Rehman, Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar and other were present.
AMIR MIR CONDEMNS SUICIDE BLAST IN PESHAWAR
Caretaker Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Amir Mir on Monday strongly condemned the suicide blast in the Peshawar Police Lines Mosque. In a statement issued here, the minister noted that terrorists intended to create fear and panic through such cowardly actions to undermine peace and security in Pakistan. The government could not be deterred by such acts of terrorism and the entire nation and institutions were fully united in putting an end to the spate of terrorism, he added.