Expressing concern over rising incidents of harassment of women of all ages, clerics belonging to various schools of thought have decided to observe Friday as Youm-i-Haya to highlight that giving respect and protection to women is an integral part of Islam.
Participants of a meeting, held under the aegis of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), also noted that in their Friday sermons, clerics and religious scholars should condemn incidents of child molestation and harassment of women as per the teachings of Shariah.
Hafiz Mohammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, the chairman of PUC and special aide to the prime minister on inter-religious harmony, was also present in the meeting.
It was decided that clerics and prayer leaders across the country should be urged to educate the public about how to treat women as per the Quran and Sunnah.
The government and judiciary must play an immediate role in this regard and relevant authorities should ban websites spreading obscenity. It was observed that all sections of society have to play an immediate role at their respective levels for the restoration of social and moral values.
Swift justice should be delivered in regard to cases like the Minar-i-Pakistan incident, Noor Muqaddam case, rape of a woman in Lahore and abuse of students in seminaries, the participants of the meeting pointed out.
They all noted that crime committed in a seminary, mosque, university or any other place should only be treated as a crime and the culprit must be tried in court and punished.
