Pakistani leader orders compulsory prayers

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 31

Pakistani leader orders compulsory prayers

NZPA-AP Islamabad The Pakistani military ruler, General Mohammed Zia Ul-Haq, voicing his determination to transform Pakistan into a truly Islamic state, has announced the start of a campaign to ensure that everybody says their prayers five times daily. The system of “Akamat Ussalaat” was backed by presidential order and would begin soon, President Zia said in a nationallytelevised address on Independence Day. Under this system, a “na-

zim,” or prayer warden, will be appointed in every village while mullahs will enjoin townsfolk to say thenprayers five times a day according to Islamic tenets.

Persons selected for the job will popularise prayers through “persuasion and suggestion,” he said, adding that the Government was determined to see the programme work. People no longer will be able to relax in their homes when the call to prayers resounds from the minarettes of mosques around the country.

President Zia’s self-ap-pointed task of “Islamising” the Muslim nation has gained momentum during the last few weeks as the country prepares for national elections.

He said that Qazi, or Islamic courts, would soon function nationwide to give the masses speedy justice. Other Islamic measures recently introduced concern payment of blood money by murderers and the law of evidence, in which the testimony of a woman will be treated as half that of a Muslim male.