Attacks on minorities un-Islamic, say Pakistan scholars

Religious scholars in Pakistan have declared that attacks on minorities were un-Islamic, and said Islam does not permit senseless attacks on places of worship of non-Muslims.

The declaration was issued just two days after a twin suicide bombing in Peshawar killed over 80 people and injured nearly 130 others in a packed church during Sunday service, Xinhua reported. Islamic parties and religious scholars slammed the terrorists for targeting innocent and peaceful Christians and said these brutal attacks have posed serious threat to possible peace talks with the armed Taliban. "All religious scholars in Pakistan view these attacks are un-Islamic as Islam does not allow anyone to use religion for attacking minorities," Allama Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of Pakistan's clerics council, said Tuesday.

Ashrafi told Xinhua that a handful of terrorists were defaming the sacred name of Islam through their cruel acts. "No Muslim can even think of killing innocent non-Muslims and those who are attacking people in the name of religion are misguided elements and they do not represent Muslims," he said. He also said that Muslims have expressed solidarity with the Christians and visited them at the site of the attacks and hospitals and also joined them during funerals as a sign of solidarity.

A banned group called Jundullah has claimed responsibility for the attacks and its spokesman, Ahmed Marwat, said the attacks were in revenge for the US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions. He warned that attacks on non-Muslims will continue unless the US stopped drone attacks.

Allama Asharafi rejected the notion of killing innocent people for the actions of others and said this was just an excuse for their terror acts. Senior religious scholars from different schools of thought urged the government that elements involved in the killing of members of the Christian community should not be invited to the peace dialogue.

Renowned scholars Mufti Taqi Usmani, Abdul Razzaq, Maulana Samiullah and Maulana Mufti Rafi Usmani of the Deobandi sect issued a decree Monday that such acts were against the teachings of Islam and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. "We believe that the attack on the church was a conspiracy against Islam and Pakistan," they said in a statement.

Pakistan's parliament late Monday passed a unanimous resolution strongly condemning the church attack as heinous and inhuman. The resolution said the attack was not only against Christians but against all Pakistanis.

Expressing solidarity with the Christian community in the country, parliament sympathised with the bereaved families and prayed for the early recovery of those injured.