Pak considering plan for uniform prayer timings for all religions

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-led government has said it is planning to introduce uniform prayer timings for all religious sects across the country.

Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf said on Saturday that he would get in touch with the Chief Ministers of all the four provinces to introduce "Nizam-e-Salat", reports the Express Tribune.

Detailing the decision, Yousaf said the provincial governments will notify a local timetable, at least at the district-level in their respective provinces, for prayer timings.

These timetables will be formulated according to the local time-zones across Pakistan.

Earlier in May 2015, the government introduced the system for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). However, the decision has hardly been implemented in spirit.

The minister stressed that the government had consulted the MeT office and religious leaders of Ahle Hadith, Hanafi (both Deobandi and Barelvi) and Ahle Tashee- before notifying uniform prayer timings for the ICT.

The same pattern will be adopted for a countrywide plan in order to promote uniformity and unity, he said.

Implementing 'Nizam-e-Salat', Yousaf said, will be the responsibility of the provincial authorities and his ministry has so far been receiving a positive response from them in this connection.

He did not set a deadline to implement uniform prayer timings but said this is the government's priority.