A new legislation approved June 4th; Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has banned the translation of sacred Arabic words into English. The move has been seconded by Islamic religious leaders including Mufti Muneeb Ur Rehman and Mufti Muhammad Naeem .
Naeem said the decision should be “enforced in letter and spirit”, the website reported, while Rehman agreed that “some religious terms and names are best described in Arabic”.
Nasir Saeed Director of Centre For Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement has warned that the new legislation could have a significant affect on the religious minorities within Pakistan.
“Keeping in view the present situation of the country where extremism, fundamentalism and hatred against Christians and other religious minorities is on the rise…there is a possibility that this policy could have a negative impact, especially on the lives of non-Muslims who are already suffering because of the government’s discriminatory policies against them,” Saeed said.
“There is also the chance that people will misuse this provision if they consider any translation of any word offensive or insulting to any Islamic word.”
No comments:
Post a Comment