A Takfiri cleric banned from delivering sermons during Friday Prayers in Pakistan

The capital administration held five rounds of discussions with deposed takfiri cleric of Lal Masjid Abdul Aziz and did not allow him to lead Friday prayers and deliver the weekly sermon in the mosque.

The capital administration held five rounds of discussions with deposed takfiri cleric of Lal Masjid Abdul Aziz and did not allow him to lead Friday prayers and deliver the weekly sermon in the mosque.

The last round of talks between the administration and the cleric started on Friday morning and concluded less than an hour before the prayers.

Scores of women clad in black burqas with some of them carrying sticks gazed down at the streets from the windows and rooftops of the new Takfiri Hafsa Foundation in G-7/3-4 as women police commandos wearing black uniform roamed in the street below in defensive gears. 

A large number of male students were also seen at the G-7 Takfiri seminary and around Lal Masjid. Not only a heavy contingent of police was deployed around Lal Masjid but Rangers were also posted around the female seminary and at the ends of adjoining streets.

Shuhada Foundation of Lal Masjid had announced on May 8 that cleric Aziz would lead the Friday prayers and deliver a sermon on May 11 after a gap of over three years.

Soon afterwards, officers of the local administration started discussions with the cleric in the new Takfiri Hafsa Foundation and the final round concluded at around 12 noon on Friday.

The officials told the media that the cleric had agreed not to visit the mosque. One of the ICT officials said the cleric insisted that it was his right to deliver a sermon at Lal Masjid.

“His plan was that he would go to the mosque in the form of a procession along with a few vehicles loaded with women students but we did not yield to any pressure,” the official added.