Olama League demands chief justice step down amid statue removal campaign

Radical Islamist group Olama League demonstrated with a human chain on Saturday threatening to boycott Eid-ul-Fitr prayers at the National Eidgah if the statue of the Greek goddess is not evicted from the Supreme Court and the chief justice resigns. Olama League leaders threatened to move forward with their boycott if their demands were not met by Ramadan. They demanded Chief Justice SK Sinha resign for not acquiescing to the pressure to remove the statue. The human chain in front of National Press Club saw the throng of demonstrators clamour against the protests over the Islamic amendments in national textbooks. Several radical Islamist groups, including Hefazat-e-Islam, have been campaigning for removal of the sculpture of Greek goddess of justice Themis, calling it unIslamic. Hefazat, which is spearheading the campaign, rejected the idea of covering the statue during prayers, dubbing it “ridiculous” and renewed their demand to install a replica of the Qur’an instead.