The Pakistan Ulema Council on Friday observed a peace day across the country.
Addressing gatherings organised after Friday prayers, speakers welcomed the recent efforts by the government for negotiations with the Taliban to end violence.
Urging both sides to announce “a ceasefire” for three months, the PUC expressed its confidence in the four-member committee formed by the government to lead the talks from its side.
The speakers regretted the bloody conflict and said it was now time to stop it.
In his address to a gathering of thousands of people at Jamia Masjid Khulfa-i-Rashideen Johar Town, The Pakistan Ulema Council Central Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said that Islam was a religion of peace.
He said Islam gave followers of all religions and sects the right to live.
Those behind the bloodshed were neither Muslims nor true followers of other religions, he said.
Ashrafi said that the The Pakistan Ulema Council had declared the reported verdict of the panchayat in Muzaffargarh (sanctioning rape) a disgrace.
He said the council had demanded that the culprits be tired in special courts and brought them to justice through speedy trials.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2014.