Imam Masjid of Governor House Mosque Qari Ismail and Imam Masjid of Badshahi Mosque Abdul Khabeer Azad, both Punjab government employees refused to lead funeral prayers of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer on Wednesday. Official sources told Business Recorder that both the Auqaf department employees point blank told the Governor House administration that they would prefer to be dismissed from service than lead funeral prayers of the assassinated governor.
As all prominent Ulema of the city had refused to participate or lead the funeral prayers, PPP's Ulema wing chief Allama Afzal Chishti led the Namaz-e-Janaza, which was attended by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Federal ministers and thousands of PPP workers.
None of the leaders or workers of the leading religious political parties, including Jamaat-i-Islami, participated in the funeral prayers. None of the religious sects expressed unequivocal condemnation of Salmaan Taseer's assassination by his own security guard.
On the contrary, about 500 leading Ulema of Jamaat Ahle Sunnat Pakistan (JASP) in a statement had asked Muslims not to offer Namaz-e-Janaza nor try to lead funeral prayers of Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer. In a joint statement they paid tributes to governor's assassin Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. Business Recorder tried to contact some of the prominent leaders of Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz (TNRM) to have their comments about their future line of action, but they had apparently switched off their mobile phones.