ISLAMABAD: Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Minister Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has sought further cooperation of clerics to deal with social issues prevailing in society.

He, addressing a webinar here in the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony the other day, eulogized the role of Ulema and Mashaikh during the COVID-19 and said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the prevention of coronavirus religiously acted upon in the mosques and worship places during the last two years.

Noor Qadri said due to the pandemic, mosques and worship places were closed all over the world except Pakistan. Religious scholars of all schools of thought voluntarily and literally followed the COVID-19 protocols and extensively educated the people to curb the spread of this lethal viral infection, he added.

He said keeping in view their good track record, the ministry of religious affairs wanted to extend the radius of its cooperation with Ulema and Mashaikh in a bid to cope with other social evils like fake news, hygiene, women rights in property, cleanliness, population welfare, intolerance and Islamophobia etcetera.

Taking part in the discussion, Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz said the council had prepared almost 100 essays over various social issues to bring reforms in all segments of the society.

He said after formulating complete guidelines, the compiled literature would be distributed among the clerics.

Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Member Mufti Ali Asghar proposed that the media persons should be provided adequate training to counter the fake news.

He said it was one of the rising issues and a big source of chaos in various segments of the society.

He said journalists should be sensitized journalism ethics as per Quran and Sunnah and let them realize about the consequences of propagating false notions both here and hereafter.

A number of Ulema and Mashaikh participated from every nook and cranny of the country and assured to provide their helping hands in case of tackling the social issues came under discussion in the online meeting.

At the end, Noor Qadri condemned the sad and intolerable incidents of Sialkot, Mian Channu, Sahiwal, and Peshawar and urged the government to continue taking adequate measures to overcome such inhuman acts in the future.

He also read out a joint communique after reaching a consensus with Ulema and Mashaikh for the redressal of the following social issues.