Pakistani religious Affairs has suspended a high-profile cleric, Mufti Abdul Qayi who posed for selfies with a controversial model famed for her suggestive photos.
Qavi was removed Wednesday from the country’s moon-sighting committee which decides when the ongoing holy month of Ramadan begins and ends, according to a notification issued by the ministry.
The suspension comes after he was widely ridiculed when social media starlet Qandeel Baloch — a deeply polarising figure in the conservative Muslim country — uploaded the pictures earlier this week along with a video of herself with the preacher, wearing his hat and pouting.
Baloch, a Kim Kardashian type figure who frequently posts semi-nude selfies, later called Qavi “a blot on the name of Islam” and accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
Qavi was also suspended as a member of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf opposition party, led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, a former socialite who became more religious after his retirement as a sportsman.
“Mufti Qavi’s fate will be decided after the opinion of the (National religious scholars) Council regarding his selfies and behaviour,” a spokesman for the ministry told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper Wednesday.
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