This nuisance value must be eradicated, just ban religious parties, Mr President. Moreover, all mosques must be run by the government, whether District, Provincial or Federal is unimportant, the mosque pulpits must not be used to propagate a narrow parochial ideology.
Writers asking for change..Ikram Sehgal demands that...''For starters, instead of "Interfering in Afghanistan" by being a food granary for Afghanistan and providing their refugees safe haven, we must start interfering in our own affairs. With the religious extremists on the run we must take steps to ensure they never ever reach a position to hold this nation hostage again. Why should religious groupings be allowed to function as political parties? It is the right of every citizen to be able to choose democratic platform, so why should we allow platforms that discriminate against the ordinary citizens simply because of his or her personal religious beliefs.
The country has only one ideology, why allow its base to be narrowed down further? Those of a particular belief must have as a broad-base the ideology of Pakistan. As an Islamic country that gives equal opportunity to other religions we cannot afford myriad religious factions in our own. It is un-Islamic to give recognition to factions propagating their own interpretation of Islamic ideology. Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Jamiat Ullema-i-Pakistan (JUP), etc must become part of mainline parties. Presently, they have no hope of ever winning an electoral majority but they have the capacity to hold the majority to ransom by simply using their vocal militancy. This nuisance value must be eradicated, just ban religious parties, Mr President. Moreover, all mosques must be run by the government, whether District, Provincial or Federal is unimportant, the mosque pulpits must not be used to propagate a narrow parochial ideology. |
