ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri claimed on Tuesday that Israel’s secret service, Mossad, was trying to spread sectarianism in Pakistan by using fake social media accounts.
“A female Mossad operative in Israel is spreading sectarian material in Pakistan by using a fake account,” he told a gathering organized by the Council of Islamic Ideology in Islamabad to commemorate the National Minorities Day. “This woman identifies herself as Aisha, has good command of Arabic, and regularly shares sectarian material on social media.”
The minister did not provide further details, and Arab News could not independently verify his claim. However, he added that “ignorant people” using these platforms spread the material without considering its implications.
Addressing the event that focused on pluralism and sectarian harmony, he said that the government had organized the convention to raise awareness about this issue and request scholars and general public not to fall for the Israeli conspiracy.
“We have noticed that blasphemous material related to sacred religious personalities gets frequently distributed [on social media]. It’s all planned,” he warned.
“For four decades, the conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan along linguistic, religious and ethnic lines has failed,” Qadri said. “Now the last attempt is a conspiracy to spread riots among Shias, Sunnis, Barelvis, Deobandis and Salafis.”
The minister said that the Council of Islamic Ideology should introduce a “new national charter” to promote harmony and understanding among different sects.
“The Muttahida Ulema Board Punjab, Milli Yakjehti Council and Inter-Faith Harmony Committee have made separate efforts to eradicate sectarianism. The Council of Islamic Ideology should put all these efforts together in the form of a new national charter,” he added.
“The state will maintain its writ in any case,” Qadri continued. “It is unfortunate that administrative officials have been urging scholars to remain peaceful before the arrival of Muharram [the first month of the Islamic calendar] since scholars should do it themselves.”
Minister says Israel’s Mossad fueling sectarianism in Pakistan through social media
https://arab.news/pd5d9
Minister says Israel’s Mossad fueling sectarianism in Pakistan through social media
- Pir Noorul Qadri says a conspiracy is being hatched to destabilize Pakistan by creating riots among different sects
- The minister also urged the Council of Islamic Ideology to promote sectarian harmony in the country
Officer killed, four suspects arrested in raids after deadly Islamabad mosque bombing — police
- The blast killed 31 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, with Daesh claiming responsibility for the attack
- Police arrested four suspected facilitators of the suicide bomber in an overnight raid in Nowshera, an official says
ISLAMABAD: A police officer was killed, while four suspects were arrested in a series of overnight raids conducted by police following a deadly suicide bombing in Islamabad, officials said on Saturday, with Daesh (Islamic States) claiming responsibility for the attack.
Officials said 31 people died in the blast at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque in the Tarlai Kallan area on Islamabad’s outskirts on Friday, with scores more being treated for injuries.
The blast occurred at Friday prayers, when mosques around the country are packed with worshippers, with Daesh saying one of its militants had targeted the congregation by detonating an explosive vest.
Late Friday, Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement agencies conducted a raid in the northwestern district of Nowshera, which led to a shootout with suspects linked to Friday’s bombing, leaving one officer dead.
“Assistant Sub-Inspector Ejaz Khattak was martyred, while ASI Aman Sher and Constable Hazrat Ali were injured when police carried out a raid on militants linked to the Islamabad blast,” Nowshera police spokesperson Turk Ali Shah told Arab News, adding more details regarding the arrests would be released by federal authorities.
A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the law enforcers had arrested four suspected facilitators of the suicide bomber.
“We have taken four people suspected to be linked to the Islamabad bombing into custody,” the official told Arab News, adding that the arrestees were “being interrogated to ascertain their exact role in the bombing.”
On Friday evening, Tallal Chaudhry, Pakistan’s state minister for interior, blamed the suicide attack on militants “sponsored by India and supported by Afghanistan.”
“He is not an Afghan national, but details of how many times he traveled to Afghanistan have been obtained,” Chaudhry said, declining to reveal the identity of the bomber.
Islamabad has long accused Kabul of allowing its soil to be used by militant groups and New Delhi of backing their cross-border attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces. The Afghan and Indian governments have consistently denied the allegations.
India also issued a statement on Friday, condemning the attack and condoling the loss of life while calling Islamabad’s accusation against it “as baseless as it is pointless.” The Afghan Taliban government also condemned the attack in a statement issued by its foreign affairs ministry.
Friday’s attack came amid a renewed surge in militant violence in Pakistan and followed a suicide bombing outside a district court complex in Islamabad in November last year that killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, underscoring growing security concerns even in heavily guarded urban centers.
“Be assured that the previous terrorists and their handlers involved in Islamabad attacks were arrested and are being dealt with according to the law,” Chaudhry told reporters, reassuring that those responsible for the mosque blast would also be arrested.
