Afghanistan Times
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In the midst of a fog of political chaos, insecurity, dwindling national economy, devaluating national currency, and the increased attacks of the Taliban, religious scholars have come together, raised their voice and condemned Pakistan-backed terrorism in Afghanistan. They came together in reaction to the recent wave of terror, particularly after a huge blast in Shah Shaheed area. The Ulema Shura of Kabul issued a fatwa (religious ruling) of jihad against Pakistan, an eastern neighboring country which has been historically interfering in Afghanistan and is responsible for the ruins across the country.
Condemning the recent attacks in Kabul the religious scholars condemned the objectionable fatwa of Pakistani religious scholars which called the war in Afghanistan a jihad. The chief of the Shura, Maulavi Abdul Basir Haqqani, condoled with the families who lost their near and dear ones to the suicide bombings in Kabul and responded to the religious scholars in such words: When you issue jihadi fatwas against the innocent and troubled people of Afghanistan then listen to our fatwa as well. Jihad is obligatory in Pakistan and we support and stand by those who have waged jihad in Pakistan. This is the first ever clear response from Afghan religious scholars, which will serve the people, the troops, the government and the entire nation a long way in uniting them against the slave Taliban and Pakistan. Earlier there was a lack of consensus among the leaders which had deeply enmeshed the nations into troubles. To take the nation out of this bog, it needs leadership equipped with political wisdom and acumen, for only a president or a minister cannot steer the nation towards a safe harbor until he has all the political figures on the same page, with big minds, tall thoughts, and above all enthusiasm for riddance of the scourge of terror. On top of that the entire government machinery and the nation must have backing of the religious community to win the war against terror because it is being fought along religious lines and it is the religious community that can successfully hit back at those who misuse religion purely for their political designs. As the political maturity of our religious scholars is growing, many of the political and security troubles of the nation will lessen. Pakistan, which dubs itself as the fortress of Islam has been exploiting religion for its political designs. On one side it has been successfully using as a tool against the different nationalists and ethnic groups while on another side for its expansionist plots in Afghanistan. Even Pakistan came into existence under a religious slogan—the Two Nations Theory. This theory simply means that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations (peoples) while the stark reality is that when India was going to be partitioned a larger Muslim population stayed behind and opposed the ideology of Pakistan. Then the newly born country was hit by constitutional crisis as those who championed the use of religion as political tool took a sharp U-turn and sought Pakistan must be a secular state while Islamists were persistent that Pakistan must be an Islamic Republic. Those who opposed the idea that Pakistan must be a theocracy argued that Pakistan didn’t come into existence because of Jihad rather because of a political movement therefore it cannot be a theocracy. However, this neighboring state has been using religious sentiments against Afghanistan. The truth is Pakistan has a quite visible double standard on war on terror. Those who are fighting in Pakistan for Sharia are terrorists and those who are fighting in Afghanistan are Mujahideen. This double standard of Pakistan has been the only troublemaker for the people of Afghanistan.
