Nawaz Sharif celebrated Holi to appease Indian government: JuD

Lahore, Mar 23: JuD acting chief Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki on Friday said that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif celebrated Hindu festival 'Holi' to please the Indian government.

"The prime minister and other ruling elite celebrated Holi festival to please the Indian government. The rulers must realise that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations. Their culture and civilisation are different. They cannot live together," Makki, who is the brother-in-law of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, said this at a conference in Lahore.

Makki said the rulers are weakening Pakistan's ideology for extending a hand of friendship with India. "We will defend Pakistan's ideology and will make the nation strong to fight the enemy," Maki said.

Sharif participated in a function in Karachi to celebrate the Holi festival with the Hindu community. In his message to minorities, Sharif warned against the forced conversion and destruction of worship places of other religions, describing them as 'crime in Islam'.

Earlier, cleric Allama Ashraf Jalali, secretary general of Sunni Ittehad Council, said that the prime minister had not only blasphemed against Islam but also demeaned the 'ideological foundations' of Pakistan by participating the function. Issuing a fatwa against Sharif the cleric demanded 'an open apology from the premier for violation of his oath'.

PTI