Seminary fumes over publicising Sami’s fatwa in local media
PESHAWAR: In yet another major set back to the polio programme, the Fata Secretariat lands in trouble for publicising fatwa (religious decree) of Darul Uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak, in the local media through paid advertisements without the permission and knowledge of its administrator Maulana Samiul Haq.
Maulana Yusuf Shah, a spokesman of Maulana Samiul Haq, head of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) on Sunday issued a statement and termed the publicising of the polio fatwa in media as conspiracy hatched to sabotage the proposed peace talks between Pakistani Taliban and Maulana Samiul Haq.
“There are so many fatwas issued by various religious scholars recently in the favor of polio vaccination, but no one is publicising them. The publicity campaign highlighting the fatwa of Darul Uloom Haqqania seems to be a big conspiracy as all are aware that Maulana Samiul Haq is playing a key role in bringing peace to the region,” Maulana Yusuf Shah explained in the statement.
It further added that the publicity campaign of the polio fatwa at this point of time was a scheme by hidden forces to increase the gap between Maulana Samiul Haq and Taliban leadership.
“We have highlighted time and again that some powers are misusing the polio campaign for their personal gains,” he mentioned in the statement. Pointing towards the dirty role of Dr Shakeel Afridi with naming him, the statement stated mentioned that the Abbottabad operation caused major damage to the credibility of the polio drive and has created very serious doubts in the minds of the people regarding the motives behind the polio campaign.
“After the Abbottabad operation, Ulema and parents had doubts about the motives of the polio drive,” it maintained.The statement also revealed that Maulana Samiul Haq has shared the fears and doubts of the public regarding the polio drive at many international meetings and conferences and has demanded that steps should be taken to clear the doubts of the masses regarding the polio drive.
The statement stated in the end that Maulana Samiul Haq has demanded from United Nations (UN) and international agencies working on health issues in Pakistan to assure that in future, any health drive will not be used for spying and reconnaissance purposes.
Talking to The News by telephone, Maulana Yusuf Shah said the paid media campaign using their fatwa has infuriated Maulana Samiul Haq and he personally asked government officials to stop this drive with immediate effect.
Maulana Samiul Haq and his Darul Uloom Haqqania recently issued a fatwa in favour of polio vaccination in a bid to help stop ongoing attacks on polio teams and police officials providing them security. However, it backfired and Maulana Samiul Haq had to issue a strong-worded statement in his favour. There were also reports that some members of the Pakistani Taliban, headed by Maulana Fazlullah, known as strong opponent of polio vaccination, had expressed their displeasure over Maulana Samiul Haq’s fatwa in favour of polio vaccination and its publicising in media.
Efforts were made to seek comments from officials of the Fata Secretariat, which according to Maulana Yusuf Shah had run a paid campaign in the media but none of them were willing to speak on the record about the issue.
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