The Government intends to organize an international conference of religious scholars in Riyadh or Cairo against suicide bombings and to help the reconciliation efforts. The move comes after the invited Pakistani Mullahs rejected to participate in the Ulema Conference proposed for March, which had already been postponed twice before.

Recently in the London summit, President Zardari and other Pakistani leaders had assured all-out cooperation on the Ulema Conference, but now it seems the Karzai Administration has dropped the idea after a negative response from Islamabad. The proposal had been enthusiastically mutually suggested during the much-hyped visit of High Peace Council Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani to Islamabad. Kabul had proposed names of several top Pakistani clerics from the religious political parties for the conference, which the Pakistan government and security establishment have opposed.

Ambassador Daudzai in Islamabad met with Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulani Sami-ul-Haq, two top religious political leaders with clout on mainstream religious constituency in Pakistan and more importantly, the Taliban leaders most of whom have been in Madrassahs run by affiliates of the two leaders’ party Jamiat Ulema Islam. These leaders publicly support Afghan Taliban in their public rallies across and hail the militancy in Afghanistan against the US and Afghan National Security Forces as Jihad. They are also considered closed to the military intelligence establishment of Pakistan.

The goal of the conference was to get a Fatwa with full partici8pation of renowned scholars and clerics, against the suicide attacks and urge for peace talks. A Taliban statement from Mullah Omar published by major media outlets in Pakistan warned their Ulema not to attend the conference.

However, if the military establishment urges the mentioned Pakistani religious leaders and other scholars who have rejected Kabul’s invitation, the Ulema Conference could be held. It seems they do not see any mutual interest in the conference. Some reports even indicated that the military establishment was not pleased with list of invitees. The religious parties invited rejected the conference as an American agenda.

Failure of holding the AfPak Ulema Conference shows the flawed reconciliation strategy of the Government that lacks a broad-based vision. It could have been a helpful step if the Government had succeeded in holding the moot, however the reconciliation and negotiation efforts with Taliban is not just about a conference of religious scholars. Domestically, the stakeholders who fought against matter most, but the Government has bypassed them altogether.