ZULFIQAR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD, April 28: Maulana Tariq Jamil on Tuesday clarified his recent remarks, which he made during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s telethon on April 23, and apologised to those “inadvertently hurt”.
Taking to twitter, he said: “My aim was to point out that we are all to blame for our current state. It was meant to be a general remark not targeting any specific men, women, persons or gender, but as a reminder to get closer to what Allah teaches us.”
The cleric had come under scrutiny for his remarks on women and the media during the broadcast.
On Friday, he had apologised to the latter.
He insisted that he only meant to remind us of the spiritual, and apologised to “anyone who may have been inadvertently hurt”.
The apology from Maulana Tariq Jamil comes five days after an appearance on a private television, which caused uproar in the country especially among women folks.
The maulana had been invited to say a prayer at the end of the Ehsaas Telethon held to collect funds for the coronavirus relief fund.
However, before his prayer began, he spoke at length about the pandemic and how among other things such as the prevalent cheating and lying in society – especially by the media – it was to be blamed on the “immodest actions” of women.
The Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari thanked Maulana Tariq Jamil after his tweets.
Mazari noted with appreciation the clarification presented by Jamil. “You have many followers and this will send a clear message to any who seek to misinterpret your words to target women,” she said.
“Thank you for the clarification. Really appreciate it. You have many followers and this will send a clear message to any who seek to misinterpret your words to target women. In the same spirit, even though my tweet on the issue of women being targeted did not mention you,” she tweeted.
Offering an apology of her own to Jamil, she said that her earlier tweet “did not mention you”, and that she “would like to apologise, if it caused you hurt”.
“I would like to apologise, if it caused you hurt. The intent was, and is, to clarify that COVID19 pandemic’s cause was not women. Women are victimised on many pretexts and we need to ensure that their rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pak are not violated,” she tweeted.
