Imran told to avoid shrine visits

SAHIWAL: In view of security reasons and evading any untoward incident, Pakpattan District Police Officer ​Rizwan Umar Gondal has written a letter to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan asking him to inform police before visiting Baba Farid’s shrine any time in future.

According to the letter sent to the PTI chief on June 28, the senior cop advised Mr. Khan to avoid frequent visits to the shrine to be on the safe side.

Imran Khan’s friend Zulfi Bokhari was among those who accompanied him to the shrine where they stayed for more than one hour during the last visit.

The message has been conveyed to the police to be watchful of security threats to the life of PTI chief Mr. Khan, the DPO said in an interaction with journalists.

Imran ignited social media debate after he performed sajda during his visit to Baba Farid shrine on June 27, drawing diverse comments from the tweeple.

Imran visited the shrine of Baba Fareeduddin Ganj Shakar (RA) with his wife the night of June 27. The visit was recorded and later went viral on the social media.

https://arynews.tv/en/imran-sajda-shrine-social-media-storm/

Religious conservatives and liberals alike criticised Imran for what appeared to be a sajdah at the stairs of the shrine.

Imran later clarified in an interview to a local news channel saying;

“Sajda is only for Allah, I only kissed the floor of the shrine out of my respect for the great individual that he was, for his services to Islam. This makes you more humble and removes your ego,”

He further added saying;

“Sufism speaks about removing the “main” the ego in an individual, people see these things superficially and declare fatwas without knowing the religion, without even knowing the facts whether it was a kiss or sajda.”