Blasphemy against Prophet should be international crime: JI’s APC

LAHORE: The All Parties Conference (APC) hosted by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Tuesday said that blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) should be declared an international crime.
They demanded of the government to hold an Islamic summit in Islamabad against the publication of blasphemous sketches by the West and decide a common line of action by the Muslim Ummah to discourage this trend.
They said Islamabad should have convened an OIC moot after the repeated publication of sketches and raised the issue at the UN to calm down the feelings of one-and-a-half billion Muslims in the world. However, they said the government had not fulfilled its responsibility under the fear of the US and Europe.
Noted leaders at the APC said that repeated publications of blasphemous sketches were not only the worst form of blasphemy but also a clear-cut indication that Western societies stood behind the ignoble acts in the name of freedom of expression.
They observed that, begun at the behest of Zionist lobby and the US imperialism, the blasphemy had crossed all limits of human values, dignity and human rights, and it was high time that all Muslim States must make joint efforts for bringing a permanent end to blasphemy by pronouncing it a crime under articles 2 and 4 of UN Human Rights Charter, punishable by death and the desecration of all revealed religions as a criminal offence.
The leaders from all shades of society demanded all Muslim states to lodge a protest with France and other European States against blasphemy. If Europe did not punish and check the blasphemers, the Muslim states should break diplomatic, trade and cultural ties with these countries and boycott their products.
Chaired by JI Ameer Sirajul Haq, the conference was participated by Jamaat-ud-Dawa Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, JUI-S Ameer Maulana Samiul Haq, former president, Justice (retd) Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, Mufti Munibur Rahman, Maulana Syed Ata-ul-Momin Bukhari, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalindhari,

Federal Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique, PTI leader Mehmoodur Rashid, former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Atiq Ahmed, JUI-F’s Maulana Amjad Khan, Pir Ejaz Hashmi, Christian leader J Salik, Chairman, Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sardar Sham Singh and others.
Sirajul Haq said there seemed to be no life in the Muslim rulers as all of them were faithful to the West and devoid of any religious sense of respect. He said had the Pakistan government fulfilled its duty on this score, the religious parties would not have felt shy of praising its action. By initiating some action for safeguarding the dignity of the Holy Prophet, the rulers would have earned respect in this world and reward in the hereafter also.
He stressed that the Muslim rulers should gather in Madina and vowed to protect the dignity of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) at all cost. He said this was not any political or sectarian issue, this was the collective issue of the Muslim Ummah.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said all Muslim rulers should have rallied in Madina, declaring that all of them were Muhammadis and vowed to stand united for protection of honour and dignity of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Maulana Samiul Haq appreciated the JI’s effort to unite the nation on a sensitive issue.
PML-N leader Saad Rafique said terrorism, extremism and violence in the world had increased due to the partiality of the UN and the bias of the West. He said the issues of the Muslim World, including Kashmir and Palestine had not been resolved for decades which gave rise to despair and lawlessness.
The joint declaration at the APC noted that incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran at the Guantanamo Bay prison and the repeated publications of sketches in Denmark, Holland, Germany and France, and other western countries were being ignored as freedom of expression.Sirajul Haq announced a steering committee under JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch to organise the movement against blasphemy.