Ulema call on politicians to end sit-ins, protests

The political tension in the aftermath of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s call for "do-or-die" protest has forced ulema belonging to different schools of thought to come together and urge politicians to act sensibly as the politics of sit-ins and protests, they said, was inflicting losses upon the nation.

The development came during a Kul Masalik Ulema Board meeting, headed by Chairman Maulana Asim Makhdoom and attended by Agha Saghir Abbas Virk, Allama Muhammad Badr, Qari Khalid Mahmood, Allama Mohsin Golrawi and others, held in Lahore on Sunday.

The religious scholars said that if the members of PTI founder Imran Khan's party can sit with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, once an arch-foe, then there should be no problem in sitting with the current government.

Calling attention towards the pressing issue of violence in District Kurram, they said that scores of killings took place in Parachinar but what they were worried about was saving their politics.

It should be noted that the PTI convoy led by Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had left for Islamabad from Peshawar.

Viewing the PTI protests, the government has closed the main arteries with containers and placed barricades on many other roads leading to Islamabad.

PTI leaders claim that 490 of their workers and leaders have been arrested from various cities of Punjab so far, while 100 others are missing.