Pak cleric endorses suicide attacks in ‘occupied lands’
6 March 2013 7:10 AM IST
A leading Pakistani cleric is at the centre of a controversy over his remarks apparently endorsing suicide attacks in Palestine, Afghanistan and Kashmir, prompting Islamabad to formally distance itself from his comments.
In an interview with Afghanistan’s ToloNews channel, All Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said jihad was permitted in all Muslim lands occupied by ‘outside forces’.
‘I believe Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India and Afghanistan by the US. So if innocent Muslims don’t have the atomic bomb, they have their lives and they sacrifice their lives for Allah,’ Ashrafi said in footage aired by the Afghan channel.
Ashrafi, also a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body that advises the Pakistan government on religious issues, said Pakistani clerics had issued a fatwa in 2002 against the killing of innocent people.However, he said there was a ‘difference between killing innocents and a fight for independence’. The fighting in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine was a ‘jihad (being) waged by the oppressed against oppressors,’ he claimed.
Ashrafi's remarks drew angry responses from the Afghan Ulema Council, which said suicide attacks are unlawful under Islam and from Afghan National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Ashrafi's remarks were also condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a joint news conference in Kabul on Monday.
In an interview with Afghanistan’s ToloNews channel, All Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said jihad was permitted in all Muslim lands occupied by ‘outside forces’.
‘I believe Palestine is occupied by Israel, Kashmir by India and Afghanistan by the US. So if innocent Muslims don’t have the atomic bomb, they have their lives and they sacrifice their lives for Allah,’ Ashrafi said in footage aired by the Afghan channel.
Ashrafi, also a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body that advises the Pakistan government on religious issues, said Pakistani clerics had issued a fatwa in 2002 against the killing of innocent people.However, he said there was a ‘difference between killing innocents and a fight for independence’. The fighting in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine was a ‘jihad (being) waged by the oppressed against oppressors,’ he claimed.
Ashrafi's remarks drew angry responses from the Afghan Ulema Council, which said suicide attacks are unlawful under Islam and from Afghan National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
Ashrafi's remarks were also condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at a joint news conference in Kabul on Monday.
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