I belong to a Sunni family, says Sethi
LAHORE: Najam Sethi, the editor of weekly The Friday Times, has declared that he belonged to a Sunni family.
According to a press release, he said “The petition filed by PML MNA Zafar Ali Shah before the Chief Election Commissioner, demanding that I be declared a non-Muslim and also be disenfranchised from voting or standing for public office either as a Muslim or non-Muslim, is an outrageous lie.
“The petition can be divided into two parts. First, it is an attack on my religious belief and that of my family. Secondly, it is part of a continuing and malicious campaign of intimidation and harassment which began on May 8, 1999, when I was illegally abducted and detained. And, like all such attempts in the past, it will not succeed.”
“For the record, I would like to categorically restate certain facts:
1. I belong to Hanafia Sunni family. My late father’s name was Sheikh Abdul Aziz Sethi and my mother’s name is Razia Begum. I am married into a Syed Shia family. My father-in-law’s name is Syed Muhammad Mohsin and my mother-in-law’s name is Syeda Sitwat Sultan.
2. The Pakistan High Commissioner to India’s so-called charge sheet against me on which the petition is based was motivated by highly dubious personal and political interests and ambitions. That is why it has already been thoroughly discredited in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, when the government was obliged to set me free on June 2 by withdrawing all concocted charges of sedition, etc, based on the same report.
3. The government and its lackeys are making a mockery of human rights, press freedom and democracy by continuing this ridiculous campaign against me.
4. It is shameful that all this is being done at a time when Pakistanis need to unite and the government needs all the international goodwill it can get. Instead, some misguided people in Islamabad are sowing the seeds of discord and making the government of Pakistan look absurd in the eyes of the world.”
Source: The News
Date:6/26/1999
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
