Civil society activists, (led by Quaid-e-Jawan Jibran Nasir ) who held a number of protests against Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid and even had a FIR registered against him, have decided to give a break to their campaign and concentrate on social media.
Jibran Nasir, the main organiser of the protests, has moved to Karachi. However, he claimed claimed that they would restart their campaign if the cleric was not arrested on January 3.
Activists say if Maulana Aziz is not arrested on Jan 3, they will re-launch their protest.
It may be mentioned that after the December 16 Peshawar incident, the Lal Masjid cleric gave a controversial statement and said he cannot condemn the killing of the innocent children in Peshawar. He also refused to consider the students martyrs.
Because of the statement, the civil society activists started a protest against the cleric.
On December 26, the district court of Islamabad issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Maulana Aziz on the charge of threatening the protesters.
Later, the activists met Senators Saeed Ghani (PPP), Mushahid Hussain Syed (PML), Afrasiab Khattak (ANP) and Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the MQM and demanded that the cleric should be arrested.
The activists were also trying to meet some federal ministers when a campaign started on the social media, claiming that the activists were led by a Qadiani. As a proof, a picture showing some people participating in a ‘Holi’ festival was circulated on Facebook and Twitter.
But Jibran Nasir told the media that he was going to Karachi to meet his mother. “An FIR has been registered against Maulana Aziz and even the court has issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest.”
According to the law, he added, the police have to submit a challan to the court against the accused 14 days after the registration of an FIR. This mandatory period would end on January 3 when the court would take up the matter again.
“If the police submit the challan and arrest the suspect, we will wait for the court proceedings. But if the police demand further time for the completion of the challan, the civil society would restart its protest,” he said.
“It was unfortunate that some elements declared the civil society activists as Qadianis. I will be back to Islamabad by January 3,” boldly proclaimed the fire brand activist referred to as the “Quaid-e-jawan” by his followers.
It may be noted that he has already been receiving life threats for his courageous stance.
