PM Shehbaz assigns new role to Tahir Ashrafi

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Religious Harmony and Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council, Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, has been assigned a new role by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday.

According to a notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Religious Harmony and Diaspora in the Middle East and Muslim countries, with immediate effect.

The notification clarified that the appointment will be in an honorary capacity.

Earlier, Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said that the nation remains fully united on matters related to Pakistan’s defence and warned that those spreading rumours and propaganda would never succeed.

He said that unjustified criticism of the Ulema and Mashaykh conference held in Islamabad is unwarranted, and positive initiatives must be acknowledged.

Addressing the media at Jamia Masjid Nimrah, in Lahore on Sunday, Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi observed that tolerance and moderation have increasingly been neglected in public discourse, fueling extremism and violence in society. He stressed that all forms of militant behavior should be firmly rejected.

He said that Pakistan was founded on the principles of the ‘Kalima Tayyiba’, but the original vision of the country, establishing a just and equitable system, has gradually been overshadowed.

He said that scholars associated with mosques and religious institutions are the guardians of Pakistan’s ideological foundation and advocates of a system inspired by the principles of the Righteous Caliphate.