Pakistani clerics issue fatwa denouncing terrorism

Islamabad: Pakistan’s renowned clerics on Monday issued a fatwa (religious decree) denouncing terrorism and terror activities, amid a sharp uptick in attacks by the militants across the country.

The clerics belonging to a number of seminaries, including Darul Uloom Peshawar and Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania, in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province issued the fatwa, terming the taking up of arms against the state’s police and military “haraam” (forbidden) in the Sharia (Islamic law), Geo TV reported.

The fatwa issued by the clerics from the militancy-hit province declares that only the head of the Islamic state has the prerogative to declare “jihad” (holy war).

“Not everyone has the right to declare jihad,” the fatwa said.

It further said that taking up arms against the police and military personnel is against both the Sharia and the state, and anyone who rebels against the constitution and laws of Pakistan will be punishable by law.

The 14-page fatwa has been signed by religious scholars from difference schools of thought, including Maulana Qari Ehsanul Haq, Mufti Subhanallah Jan, Dr Maulana Attaur Rehman, Maulana Hussain Ahmed, Mufti Mukhtarullah Haqqani, Allama Abid Hussain Shakri and Maulana Abdul Kareem, Dawn reported.

The development comes as the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) intensified its attacks on security forces, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

The fatwa came two days after the TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud said in a video message that his group is “open to guidance” from Pakistan’s religious scholars if they believe “the direction of our jihad” is wrong.

The TTP, which has ideological linkages with the Afghan Taliban, executed around more than 100 attacks last year, most of which happened after August when the group’s peace talks with the Pakistan government began to falter.

In November last year, the TTP called off an indefinite ceasefire agreed with the government in June 2022 and ordered its militants to carry out attacks on the security forces.

The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan.

The TTP, which is believed to have close links to al-Qaeda, last week threatened to target top leaders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP if the ruling coalition continued to implement strict measures against the militants.