Religious scholars to promote true teachings of Islam:Kaira

Lahore: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira Thursday called upon religious scholars to promote true teachings of Islam for peace in the world.

Speaking as chief guest at

"All Pakistan Naat Competition"jointly organized by Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television at the National Broadcasting House here, Kaira said responsibility rested with the religious scholars to project Islam in its true spirit."Islam is not the name of rituals but it is a practical religion, which preaches diversity, tolerance and harmony", said the minister.

Kaira said those exploding bombs and resorting to violence were not doing any service to Islam. Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and his companions preached Islam with their words but today some elements were using weapons to thrust their ideas on others.”Those, who are attacking girls’ schools, are not the followers of Islam because our religion makes it binding on its followers to seek education,” he said and added that Islam was the name of revolution and the biggest miracle of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was that he laid the foundation of a state in the Arab world.

Member of Islamic Ideology Council Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said the country was facing extremism due to ignorance of Islamic teachings. Those attacking girls administering polio drops can not be called Muslims, he added.

He said Islam provided full protection to the followers of other religions and was against the use of force for its propagation.
He said ,”We can only fight extremism by carrying the flag of Holy Prophet (PBUH).”Contestant categories included boys under 15 years, girls under 15 years, boys from 15 to 25 years, and girls from 15 to 25 years.

Qamar Zaman Kaira along with Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi and Director General Radio Pakistan Murtaza Solangi, gave away prizes to the winners. In the category of boys under 15 years, Abid Gulzar bagged the first prize while Sajawal Saleem and Osaid Alam came second and third respectively.In the category of girls under 15 years, Mahnoor grabbed the first prize while Noor Fatima and Sehar Batool won second and third prizes respectively.In the category of boys between 15 and 25 years of age, Muhammad Zubair got first prize while Syed Hassan Arif and Syed Jawaad Ali Shah won second and third positions respectively.In the same category of girls, Munazza Waheed was declared the winner while Sidra Irshad and Humaira Intekhab got second and third prizes.The first position holders in all categories were awarded gold medals by Syed Abdul Rehman Welfare Foundation. Besides, eight special prizes were given to the Naat Khawans for participating in the competition.