Mufti Usmani urges peaceful protest for Palestine

Renowned Islamic scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, a former judge of the Federal Shariat Court, on Thursday stressed avoiding violence and vandalism while boycotting products in support of Palestine as the Karachi police foiled yet another attack on a fast-food chain’s outlet.

Mufti Usmani’s remarks came in the wake of multiple recent attacks on outlets of international fast-food chains across the country. Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammed Tariq Nawaz told Dawn.com that the police resorted to baton charge to disperse a mob that stormed an outlet of international fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in Korangi.

He said around 40-60 people stormed the KFC outlet in Korangi Industrial Area and tried to damage it but the police took swift action and detained 10 suspects while others fled.

SSP Nawaz told Dawn.com that more police personnel were deployed to ensure the outlet’s security. Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar appreciated the police’s performance in foiling the miscreants’ attempt to damage the restaurant by arresting 10 suspects, according to a statement.

KFC notably is not included in the boycott list of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The BDS movement is inherently a non-violent movement that calls for the boycott of corporations “complicit in the oppression of Palestinians”.

Addressing a conference about Palestine in Islamabad today, Mufti Usmani blasted Israel’s action in the course of its devastating military onslaught in the Gaza Strip and supported a boycott of products to express solidarity with Palestine.

However, the scholar emphasised: “Islam is a religion of balance. It is not a religion of vandalising [property] or hurting someone by merely getting carried away by emotions.

“Therefore pelting stones at someone or harming someone’s life and property is forbidden in Shariah. Therefore, do protest and boycott but peacefully in which there should be no element of unrest.”

He said the country’s rulers should also be convinced in a peaceful manner to carry out their responsibilities and obligations.

“Those who are ready to fight their Muslim governments and have taken up weapons in this name [of boycott] is not at all an acceptable way, we have clearly announced this. Whatever you have to do should be done peacefully otherwise … civil wars started in Muslim countries.”

Another vandalism incident emerged earlier today when a case was registered against eight suspects who allegedly pelted stones at a KFC outlet in Larkana last night, according to a police statement.

The statement added that the case was filed at Dari Police Station and the suspects were charged under Sections 6 (terrorism) and 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 337A(I) (punishment for assault causing head injuries), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“The suspects arrested by Dari Police are being presented in the Anti-Terrorism Court,” the statement read. “As per the instructions and orders issued by Larkana Police Commander SSP Ahmed Chaudhry … the process of identifying other suspects through CCTV is underway.”

The statement added that search operations were ongoing under Assistant Superintendent of Police Abdullah Afzal to arrest the suspects.

An outlet of a fast-food chain came under an attack on Wednesday in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) when scores of people pelted it with stones, shattering windowpanes and damaging some of its portions. Video clips surfacing on social media soon after the incident showed a mob attacking the building in the DHA’s Phase IV, known for housing outlets of different food chains.

In Sindh, miscreants attacked a restaurant in Mirpurkhas and set it on fire late on Tuesday night. In Karachi, the Gadap City police said that over 100 activists of a religious party attempted to ransack another outlet of the fast-food chain on M-9 motorway on Wednesday evening, but the police thwarted their plan. The officials said that 20 suspects were arrested in Mirpurkhas while nine were apprehended by police in the metropolis and separate cases were lodged against the miscreants.

Ten activists of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan were arrested on Tuesday evening after a mob ransacked a KFC outlet in Karachi’s DHA.