Pakistan bans Valentine′s Day as ″insult to Islam″

Pakistan′s interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has ordered a ban on Valentine′s Day for the capital city of Islamabad, promising ″strict action″ against anyone caught engaged in outward celebration of the festivity.

Reports state the reason for the ban is that Muslim hardliners find the holiday to be an ″insult to Islam″ and therefore unworthy of a Muslim nation. In past years, the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami had ″disrupted″ Valentine′s Day celebrations, but 2016 will be the first time that the celebration is officially banned.

Pakistan is not the only Muslim country cracking down on the Western – and originally Christian – feast day in commemoration of Saint Valentine.

Celebrations of Valentine′s Day have been banned in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the only region in the country ruled by sharia law.

On 14 February 2012 authorities in Malaysia arrested more than 40 unmarried Muslim couples who were sharing hotel rooms, with officials declaring that Valentine′s Day celebrations were ″unsuitable″ for Muslims.

Iran, too, regards Valentine′s Day as a ″decadent Western custom″. Celebrations there were outlawed in 2011.    (Breitbart)

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