Overview
- Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi spoke at a Lahore seminar on Saturday and called on religious leaders, business groups and the public to ensure a peaceful Muharram by showing unity and restraint.
- He told citizens to remain alert and to immediately report any suspicious activity to police or officials as part of keeping processions and observances safe.
- Ashrafi endorsed the Islamabad Declaration and said the National Peace Committee’s code of conduct should guide how different schools of thought observe Muharram without interfering in one another.
- One outlet reported Ashrafi accused foreign actors, including India and Israel, of using social media and funding to stoke unrest, a claim that appears only in that report and is not widely corroborated.
- He linked the call for calm to wider humanitarian and political concerns by expressing worry about conditions in Gaza and saying Kashmir must be resolved in line with Kashmiri aspirations, while praising the role of security forces and religious scholars in preventing sectarian violence.