Over 90pc mosques violating SOPs: Report.

Byline: MANSOOR ALI

ISLAMABAD -- A latest survey conducted by the PATTAN, an organization working for the marginalised segments of society, found that nearly 90% of the surveyed mosques violated the 20-point agreement signed between the government and religious clerics.

The survey was conducted in 16 cities between 29 April and 7 May, in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad.

According to the survey, besides regular mosque goers, the respondents of the survey were Imams and members of mosque committees and nearly 80% of the namazis said they offer three to five prayers including Taraveeh in congregation in a mosque. However, only 8% respondents of the survey said they didn't go to mosque at all.

The survey also found differences between the opinions of namazis and the Imams/masjid committee members regarding the implementation of the 20-point SOPs. For instance, the survey finds that one-third of namazis point fingers at Imams and masjid committees for not implementing the SOPs, while only 8% Imams blame themselves. Similarly, both groups hugely disagree about police responsibility in this regard. Only 8% Imams, but 48% namazis, blamed police for failure in non-implementation.

In response to another question, 60% namazis said that Imams did not discipline them to observe the SOPs.

On the other hand, when a similar question was asked of the Imams, every Imam said that he tried his best. 39% said they encourage people to follow the SOPs, and 53% claimed they have banned wuzzu, children and elderly from the mosques, and that they exhort people to wear masks and keep a six feet distance.

The progress of the police in implementation of SOPs was also highlighted as 26% of the namazis said police were helping in implementing the SOPs and 50% of Imams said the same.

The most interesting finding of the survey appears to be the general attitude of respondents in these times of deadly pandemic. There is a widespread fatalistic attitude, as most (74%) of the namazis said that life and death...