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ShareLal Masjid cleric dubs Pak Prez's gestures un-Islamic.
LAHORE: The prayer leader of the infamous Lal Masjid in the heart of Islamabad has issued a decree against President Asif Zardari for publicly making indecent gestures towards the American Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during their Washington meeting, saying the act was un-Islamic and Zardari has shamed the entire Pakistani nation.
Delivering a sermon at the Lal Masjid the other day, the prayer leader Maulana Abdul Ghafar, who is a close relative of the fanatic Red Mosque cleric Maujlana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed by security forces during Operation Silence in July 2007, said that President Zardari's indecent gestures, filthy remarks and repeated praise of a
non-Muslim lady wearing a short skirt is not only un-Islamic but also unbecoming of a head of state of a Muslim country.
He said that the manner in which Zardari shook hands with Sarah Palin and expressed his deep desire to hug her is intolerable and shameful. "We are fighting the American war in our country and thousands of our people have been killed just to please Uncle Sam. Therefore, we demand that the military operation in the Pak-Afghan tribal areas be immediately stopped as it is creating hatred amongst the general public against the Pakistan army", he added.
The Lal Masjid prayer leader then went on to say that the Pakistan Army soldiers dying in US-backed military operations against fellow Pakistanis and Muslims in Waziristan tribal region were omitted from the list of martyrs. It is pertinent to mention that the late Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi was one of the signatories to a similar religious decree, issued by prominent Pakistani clergymen three years ago in which Pakistan Army soldiers dying in US-backed military operations against fellow Pakistanis and Muslims in Waziristan tribal region were omitted from the list of martyrs.
The clerics were forbidden from leading funeral prayers for them. Offended by the fatwa, the government had filed cases against Rasheed Ghazi and some other clerics and gagged the media from publishing the text of the religious decree. However, no action has so far been taken against Ghazi's successor who is issuing similar controversial decrees.
