Shah Ahmed Noorani’s death shocks MMA leaders

Staff Report

KARACHI: Emotional scenes occurred when the body of Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, chief of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), was brought back to the city on Thursday night.

The body reached the Pakistan Air Force Faisal Base in a C-130 plane. It was received by a number of MMA leaders, including MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the family and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) officials. It was taken to the veteran religious leader’s house in Clifton.

The activists of the late Mr Noorani’s party were seen crying. His son, Anas Noorani, looked shocked and was unable to talk to people about his father’s death.

The veteran leader’s Namaz-e-Janaza would be offered at Nishtar Park after Friday prayers and a large number of people are expected to attend, a relative of Maulana Noorani and JUI leader Mohammed Ahmed Siddiqui said. Meanwhile, the Mr Rehman said the death of the six-party religious alliance’s head was a “loss for the entire nation”.

“It is a shock for our alliance of religious parties because we have lost our leader just as our discussions with the government on the constitutional amendments were in a decisive phase,” he told the Daily Times.

Mr Rehman said the leaders of the religious alliance would later decide who would replace Maulana Noorani. “We have just lost our head and are too shocked to decide about this so soon. It will take some days,” he said. “It is not time even to talk about the issue,” he added.

Religious parties mourn Noorani: Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and other religious organisations have expressed deep sense of grief and sorrow over the sudden death of MMA President Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

Jamaat: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Prof Ghafoor Ahmad expressed his heartfelt grief over Noorani’s death

Prof Ghafoor prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace. He said that Noorani was a great Islamic scholar and man of principles. He rendered great services to the Muslim Ummah, nation and democracy. The services of the late MMA leader would be remembered for long, he said. He said that Late Noorani had contributed a lot to from the MMA and joint opposition in parliament. He observed that the vacuum created by his death would never be filled, adding that in his death, the country had lost a seasoned leader.

Another JI leader Syed Munawwar Hassan said that the late Noorani was a symbol of Ummah’s unity, who provided a platform to all the religio-political parties belonging to various schools of thought in the name of MMA.

They expressed the confidence that the relation of fraternity and unity developed by Maulana Noorani among various sects would continue even after his death.

JUI: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) leaders Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, Muhammad Riaz Durrani, Maulana Muhammad Abdullah in their condolence messages have said that Mualana Noorani’s death at this crucial stage is a great loss and a national tragedy.

They said that late Maulana throughout his life had been striving for the enforcement of an Islamic order in Pakistan and the supremacy of the Constitution and parliament. —Agencies

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