By Hafidz Baharom
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 ― PAS’s powerful ulama wing will rule on the fate of former deputy president Nasharudin Md Isa following his public spat with DAP’s Karpal Singh over hudud, a longstanding quarrel between the two parties that precedes Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 2008 genesis.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang told a press conference after the party’s political bureau meeting today that the matter would be left up the ulama council as Nasharuddin held no post in the party.
“We only discussed about political issues. He is not a member of the central committee so we will leave the matter to our ulama council,” he said.
On August 17, Karpal said he will sue Nasharudin for defamation after the former PAS No. 2 appeared to side with Umno by advocating a PAS exit from PR and accusing the DAP leader of being against Islam.
Prior to that, Nasharudin was reported as saying: “Karpal Singh is not only against hudud but also against Islam”.
The issues of forming an Islamic state and implementing Islamic penal law have been a thorn in PR’s side, with leaders from DAP and PAS openly clashing over these in the press.
Umno has previously used the formation of PR as a clear sign that PAS has abandoned its Islamic state aim, even as it tempts it with offers to help it realise that goal.
MCA, Umno’s partner in BN, however, employs hudud as a platform to attack rival DAP as vicariously supporting hudud and Islamic state via its partnership with the Islamist party in PR.
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