Prominent preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil’s statements from Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Ehsaas Telethon to raise money for the government’s coronavirus relief fund on Thursday have received mixed reactions, which were followed by the religious scholar also apologising as he drew the ire of several netizens, including senior journalists and rights activists, who called him out for “targetting women” and calling media personalities “liars”.
“I apologise if someone has misconstrued my words. It was not a sweeping statement and I was referring to certain journalists when I said they lie,” Jamil said while appearing on a private media outlet’s show hosted senior journalist Javed Chaudhry, who was seen making the religious scholar realise that his words had not been very well-received by many.
WATCH VIDEO:
Earlier, he was also called out by senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir and his colleague Murtaza Ali Shah.
Mir also asked Jamil to name the media owner he had alluded to in his prayer at the live telethon.
WHAT DID MAULANA SAY?
Other than speaking against “certain journalists”, Maulana had on Thursday also blamed “immodest women” for causing the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.
According to reports, he advised people to abstain from vices like indecency, lying, fraud and illegal means of earning a livelihood, adding that pre-Islamic nations were annihilated because they transgressed the limits set by God.
He went on to call some women “behaiya [immodest]” and talked about the indecency and mixing up of genders and leading the youth astray. In one particular sentence, he expressed remorse over women dancing. He, however, did not clarify his stance further.
He then concluded the transmission with a special prayer asking God to end the pandemic coronavirus and save entire humanity.
Here’s what Twitterati had to say:
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has also condemned Jamil’s remarks.
Meanwhile, “#TariqJamil” continues to trend on Twitter in Pakistan.
