Saudi authorities on Friday arrested several Pakistani pilgrims for hunting rough slogans against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation in the mosque-i-nabwi in the holy city of Madina, the Saudi Arabian embassy in Islamabad was confirmed on Friday.
According to the Director of the Saudi Embassy Media, the protesters have been detained for “violating the rules” and “not respecting” the sanctity of the mosque that is respected by chanting the “chor chor chor” (thieves) as soon as they see the Prime Minister, Koran Dawn Pakistan reported.
The newly appointed Prime Minister was a visit to Saudi Arabia-First Foreign Foreign Arabia since serving-in-laws with a delegation including Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
The delegation, who headed to the Prophet’s mosque to pray after arriving in Madina on Thursday, faced protests and singing at the Holy Mosque, highlighting the videos circulating on social media.
Prime Minister Sharif and his son Hamza faced money laundering accusations. They denied making mistakes and accused that cases of them were motivated politically.
Another video shows the pilgrims who incite and sing the slogan -rough slogan against Federal Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Shahzain Bugti, who were escorted by Saudi guards. A pilgrim also looks attractive to Bugti’s hair from behind.
Responding to the harassment faced by pilgrims, Marriyum Aurangzeb in a video message said the action was carried out by “elected group”, while most Pakistani people respected the sanctity of the Holy Mosque.
“I do not want to give the name of the person responsible for this incident because I do not want to use this holy land for political purposes,” he added.
The Minister of Home Affairs Rana Sanaullah said his ministry would ask the Saudi Arabian government to take the “right action” against Pakistani pilgrims.
“My ministry will make a humble request to the Saudi government to take the right action on this problem. We will convey the pain felt by the nation at this incident in the mosque-i-nabwi, “he said.
Sanaullah said that the Saudi authorities would be asked to identify those involved in the incident so that they could be deported to Pakistan because they were “unfit to live in the holy land”.
Cursing the incident, Chairman of the Pakistani Ulama Council Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said Muslims were intended to bow their heads and lower their votes in the mosque-i-nabwi instead of lifting dirty slogans and threw accusations on the holy day of Ramzan.
Blaming Prime Minister Imran Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the incident, Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, sister of the newly appointed Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the opposition party incited “intolerance and division”.
Bachelor of Religion Maulana Tariq Jameel also tweeted that protests in the Holy Mosque are not “acceptable to Islam”.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of PTI ASAD Umar stressed that respecting the sanctity of holy places is a necessity for everyone. Live TV