Islamabad: A local imam is being seen as the savior of an assassinated bank manager’s family after he came to their defence and rubbished allegations of the accused murderer, a security guard working in the same bank, that the manager had committed blasphemy.
A court of Khushab sent the accused, security guard Ahmed Nawaz to 14-day judicial remand. Nawaz had shot bank manager Malik Imran Hanif dead inside the bank on charges of blasphemy.
In his short speech after the funeral prayers, Maulana Izhar Hussain the local prayer leader in Punjab’s district Khushab where the incident took place on November 4, made it clear the allegations were baseless and the act of killing could never be justified.
The netizens have also condemned the incident calling it a barbaric act. TV anchor Zarrar Khuhro called it a sad and tragic act and at the same time something ‘inevitable.’
The role of the imam however has been the subject of debate and a number of newspapers have even written editorials on him calling a savior and defender of the poor family.
Maulana Hussain who also led the funeral prayers for the bank manager termed his murder unjust and the act of the security guard unfair having no legal or moral basis.
In his sermon, Maulana Hussain told people to seek God’s forgiveness because the bank manager was an innocent man.
“I have seen him a number of times offering prayers and I have been told by other prayer leaders and common Muslims that they too had seen Hanif offering prayers in mosques and he was a good-natured man,” said Maulana Hussain in his sermon.
