June 18, 2021 ByRubab Saleem 

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Lahore police have registered a case against Mufti Azizur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazal (JUI-F) leader and former Jamia Asad ul Farooq after a video clip went viral showing the cleric allegedly sexually assaulting one of his students on Thursday.

This is the same Mullah who labeled Saba Qamar (a famous Pakistani actress) blasphemous when she shot a song in the premises of a mosque in Lahore. I am not endorsing Saba Qamar’s act, but in meantime I question the hypocrisy of cleric who has done more heinous crimes than her and still has guts to call it a conspiracy against him. Mosque or Madrassah is a sacred place where twirling on song makes one infidel but raping and sodomizing vulnerable students does not harm because Mufti is pious and technically responsible for the teaching them moralities.

This is not first time, when cleric in Madrassah did this. There have been several hundred examples when Mulvi or mufti abused children sexually and some even murdered them. The recent video was shocking because student came on screen with tears in his eyes, and was blackmailed by the cleric as per FIR. However this outcry would never end with Mufti Aziz’s arrest. With every viral video or a death after rape a need to address child rape crisis gets stronger but sooner other issues arise and trends come up on social media and this goes in slumber.

The corollary of video with same mufti has increased the demand for an immediate action and punishment of chemical castration of culprit to set an example for others too. Also in many instances it is noticed that religious seminaries across the country bear more pedophiles than any other place. Moreover these places bear a special status of preaching Islamic values to prepare and groom next generations. The bigger the responsibility bigger will be the issue associated to it.

Throwing light to other side of story and its effectiveness the accused Mufti shamelessly says in response to the viral video that he was given drugs to make him what he did and it was recorded as part of conspiracy to oust him from seminary by student Sabir Shah at the behest of teachers Asadullah Farooq & Syed Rasool, the latter an Afghan who “has fraudulently obtained Pakistani CNIC.”

Everyone on social media is surprised to see the an absolute silence from Pakistani Ulema and political parties on recent incident. I would like to add a tweet from journalist Zarrar Khuhro who condemned religious parties for staying silent on the issue.

“Remember: the ‘ulema’ and ‘Religious’ parties that rally against any hint of offence, be it Malala, Saba Qamar or a doctored aurat march video are not just silent but colluding to protect those responsible for molesting children. Systematically and for decades. Remember this,” he tweeted.

However Questions arise here are :

• Parents send their children entrusting them with these mufti and mullah for learning Quran, Sunnah and Hadith. To make them better human and prepare them for life here and after? Would there ever be a system in Madrassah of check and Balance or they would run to exploit and abuse vulnerable students?
•  Religious Scholars/Parties are always geared up to criticize all human right activists who stand with abused. “How many religious scholars/parties have condemned Mufti Aziz ur Rehman so far?
• What is the stance of Leaders of JUI?
• Has there been a word to investigate such incidents at Madrassas in Pakistan?
• Media needs issues to talk about, this instance has all proves hence media hasn’t given this needed coverage?
• Personally I have always propagated that from Jumma sermons to these Madrassah should be run by state. Shouldn’t there be state authority over Madrassahs who could be held accountable?

source Pakistan seeks ‘civilised’ and ‘even-handed’ relationship with US like the one that exists between America and India: Imran Khan – The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)