The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has imposed Section 144 to control the sacred papers desecration in the federal capital.
The district administration on Thursday issued a public awareness message on its social media account Facebook in a bid to alert the local people that the commercial use of holy scripts published in newspapers, advertisements and other means of communication was completely banned.
It said the commercial use of holy stuff while packing Roti (bread), vegetables and fruits was a source of desecration. The administration would initiate legal proceedings against the violators, the public notice added.
Appreciating the district administration’s initiative for addressing the issue of sacred papers desecration, All Pakistan Muqadas Auraq Union President Sheraz Ahmed Farooqui said the misuse of holy scripts was very common especially by the Nanbais (bread bakers).
Talking to APP, he said the bakers while selling the Roti rolled in a newspaper sheet which sometimes carried sacred text, was an un-Islamic practice and also a socially unaccepted norm.
He also pointed out that the unethical exercise was in practice on a large scale at fruit & vegetables markets, and Sunday bazaars. For the packing of vegetables and fruits, mostly old newspapers, having holy content, were being used by the brokers, which were later thrown into garbage heaps by the ultimate buyers, he lamented.
Farooqi expressed his gratitude for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, which was going to establish a recycling plant for sacred papers at the Haji Camp, Islamabad. Such a novel initiative would help cope with the longstanding religious issue to a large extent.
