Netherlands PM bars Turkey foreign minister’s flight
Pakistan’s prime minister is seeking help from the country’s influential clerics to fight extremism.
Nawaz Sharif, addressing a seminar at Jamia Naeemia, a leading seminary in Lahore of the majority Sunni school of thought, called on religious scholars to help him dismantle a “narrative” characterised by militants killing thousands of people over the last decade in hopes of overthrowing the government and enforcing Talibanstyle laws in Pakistan.
He said on Saturday the scholars should promote the true teachings of Islam and stand up against those who are sowing seeds of discord and disunity.
“(The mosque’s pulpit) is still the most effective way of reaching out to the people of the country. You can spread the message of unity from here and shut the doors of terrorism in the country,” Sharif said.
“Religious scholars in the past disagreed with each other, but they never incited hatred in their followers’ hearts regarding other sects,” he said.
Sharif said Islam teaches unity, harmony and brotherhood and there is a dire need for adopting these principles for prosperous Islamic world.
“We need to ask ourselves if our religious institutions are producing faithful believers or the flag-bearers for different sects. We need to ask if the country is being united or divided in the name of religion,” Sharif said.
He said extremism is the base of terrorism and terrorists have tainted the sacred concept of jihad through their heinous acts.
Sharif also paid tribute to Jamia Naeemia founder Maulana Sarfaraz Hussain Naeemi for standing up against militancy.
His appeal came a day after a bill was introduced in parliament that would legalise trials of suspected militants in military courts. Along with such trials, Pakistan has carried out operations against militants but violence has continued.
The Netherlands barred Turkey’s foreign minister from flying to Rotterdam on Saturday and President Tayyip Erdogan responded by calling his NATO partner a “Nazi remnant” as a row over Ankara campaigning among emigre Turkish voters intensified.
Rotterdam had banned foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from attending a Turkish rally in support of Erdogan’s drive for sweeping new powers, to be put to a referendum next month.
The Dutch are due to vote in a national election on Wednesday, in which anti-immigration sentiment has played a prominent role with nationalist candidate Geert Wilders calling Erdogan a dictator.
Cavusoglu had said on Saturday morning he would fly to Rotterdam anyway and accused the Dutch of treating Turkish citizens in the country like “hostages”.. REUTERS