A convict was invited to debate, which was attended by judges, Prime Minister Imran regret

A convict was invited to debate, which was attended by judges, Prime Minister Imran regret

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan lamented again on Monday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was convicted by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, was invited to be the main guest at a recent conference that was attended by judges from the top courts.

The Prime Minister feared that the West would make another blasphemous attempt against the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and said that this time a well-calculated and unanimous response should come from the Muslims so that the false impression would not come to the fore that Muslims are against freedom of expression.

He accepted that the government was acting rather slowly and that the Prime Minister's University, which he dreamed of three years ago, could not start operating today.

Fears another blasphemous attempt in the West and

calls for a calculated reaction from the Muslim world

                                                                  

A new culture has developed in the country where thieves are not treated like thieves. We saw that at a recent conference in Lahore to which Supreme Court judges were invited, the main guest was the person convicted by the Supreme Court, Khan said in his speech after opening an academic bloc of the newly formed Al Qadir University in Sohawa Tehsil, Jhelum district while referring to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was the main guest speaker at the Asma Jahangir conference.

Without naming Mr. Sharif, the Prime Minister said: The main guest was the people who had looted public property and fled abroad for bogus reasons.

A nation's moral fabric will be ruined if it ceases to recognize corruption and dishonesty as evils, he added.

Mr. Khan said he wanted the nation to achieve a moral renaissance and establish leaders of high moral character in accordance with the Holy Prophet's Sea Council (PBUH).

About any future incident of blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he said it would encourage the nation to show a more intellectual and reasonable response.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to revive the culture of the glorious Muslim era when religion and science do not conflict, and this encouraged Ijtihad (reason) to find solutions to emerging challenges.

He said today's youth are facing confusion in the age of social media, which allowed unhindered access to Western culture. Since the flow of information cannot be restricted, however, it is important to enabling young people to make informed decisions by explaining what is right and wrong.

Calling someone kafir (unbeliever) because of differences of opinion over religious beliefs is a dangerous trend that must be avoided through intellectual debate, he added.

Prime Minister Khan said he is also establishing a high-tech PM university, but the university has not been able to begin its function due to the slow government process. The government is working so slowly that after three years of devising the concept of the university, we are now starting it, he added.

Mr. Khan said universities had a big role to play and expressed confidence that Al-Qadir University would revive the norms of research and healthy debate.

He said that all of the Sufi saints of the subcontinent including Baba Bulleh Shah, Nizamuddin Aulia, Data Ganj Bakhsh and Baba Farid spread the Holy Prophet's (PBUH) message centered on love for humanity. He said a leader has four qualities: truthfulness, righteousness, courage, and selflessness.

Our correspondent in Gujar Khan adds: The Prime Minister said that in the 1960s, Pakistan was seen as one of the fastest advancing countries in the region and Pakistanis were respected around the world.

I've seen Pakistan through its different phases. There was a time when the US President personally received the Pakistani President at the airport and our President was remarkably welcomed in Britain in the 1960s because our country was making rapid progress and it was predicted that Pakistan would be California, Asia. And then we saw the decline of our country too, he said.

Agriculture meeting

While chairing an agriculture meeting, Prime Minister Khan was informed that the price of fertilizers had fallen by an average of 400 rupees per sack due to the measures taken against hoarding.

The Punjab chief secretary told the meeting that since November 13, a number of steps have been taken to curb fertilizer hoarding, including the registration of 347 initial intelligence reports, 244 arrests, 21,111 inspections, the sealing of 480 godowns and the the imposition of fines of Rs 27.9 million.

In addition, he said, a control room has been set up in each district to receive complaints about fertilizer shortages, hoarding and profiteering. Checkpoints have also been set up to curb the transport of fertilizers between the provinces.

The congregation was told that the hoarding and profiting laws would be changed so that a person providing information about hoarding would be rewarded in proportion to the goods confiscated.

The Prime Minister directed the authorities to continue to take legal action against the elements of hoarding and profiteering.