Fawad Chaudhry Says Govt Was Held Hostage By Clerics Over Ban On Prayers

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has commented on the government’s decision to allow congregational prayers in Ramzan, following the meeting of President Arif Alvi with the top clerics of Pakistan on Sunday. He said that the government should decide such matters unitarily for betterment of society at large and not be ‘blackmailed’ by religious groups.

The federal minister said that if in the wake of fatal virus, certain code of restrictions could be imposed on Muslims’ two holiest places, Masjid-al-Haram in Makkah and Masjid-al-Nabawi in Medina, then definitely those restrictions should be ‘enforced’ in the mosques of Pakistan. “There is not even one internationally acclaimed Islamic scholar in Pakistan, whom books are being taught in other Muslim countries,” he said.

Fawad Chaudhry questioned, “Are we more Muslims than those living in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and Malaysia?” He said that state affairs cannot be run in this environment. “Government shall stop being blackmailed by these religious groups over and over again, who don’t leave a chance to disagree on every matter,” the federal minister said. He urged the government to decide such national affairs by its own.

Fawad Chaudhry expressed these views in an interview to Dawn News’ programme Do Raaye on Monday night.