ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs suspended on Wednesday Mufti Qavi’s Ruet-e-Hilal Committeemembership following the Qandeel Baloch selfie debacle.
The membership was suspended by FederalMinisterforReligious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf.
The federal minister forwarded the issue to the Ulema Mashaikh Council as well.
According to sources, Qavi was also barred from attending a session of the Reut-e-Hilal Committee.
The social media sensation Qandeel Baloch on Monday took theinternet by storm as she shared a couple of selfies of herself with Mufti Abdul Qawi before ridiculing the cleric on different TV channels.
A selfie shows Baloch posing with the Mufti sitting next to him. The second picture shows Mufti holding a cell phone to his ear and Baloch wearing his cap, standing close to him.
Mufti Qavi told Geo News that during an earlier encounter, Baloch had expressed her desire to meet him in Karachi. “She wanted to have a meeting in order to get rid of a magic spell. She put my hat on her head, and took a selfie while I was busy on phone,” he said.
However, the Qandeel Baloch gave a different account of the meeting she held with Mufti Qawi.
“Why would I ask for a meeting with him…in fact, he had told me during a TV program that he would like to lay his eyes on my face before witnessing the moon of Ramazan,” she said.
“He told me, forget about Imran Khan as he is 65 and too old for me… he said I am 50 years old and an age gap of 25 years between us is not a big deal,” Qandeel Baloch said, breaking out in laughter.
Senator Hamdullah, who also is member of the committee had criticised Mufti Qavi. He had said that if scholars like Mufti Qavi can be part of the moon sighting committee, than so can Qandeel Baloch.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief spokesman Naeemul Haq had also distanced his party from Mufti Qavi. In a tweet on Tuesday, Haq denied that Mufti was head of PTI’s ulema wing. “The head of ulema wing of PTI is Mufti Saeed not Mufti Qawi. PTI dissociates itself completely from Mufti Qawi’s behaviour,” he said.