KABUL - A daylong international conference on “Islam and Peace”, featuring noted religious scholars from 24 Muslim countries, began in Kabul on Tuesday.
Afghan officials urged participants of the event -- a joint initiative of the Afghanistan Ulema Council and the High Peace Council (HPC) -- to break their silence on the situation in the country.
Scholars from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, the US, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Sudan, Iran and Jordan are attending the OIC-supported gathering.
In his address to the opening session of the conference, HPC Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani urged the participants to cooperate with the Afghans in bringing peace and stability to their country.
“As religious scholars, share your views with us on how the Afghans could get rid of their suffering resulting from three decades of conflict. The Afghans are impatiently awaiting the return of peace and prosperity to their homeland,” he told the participants.
He sought support from Muslim scholars for ending the war in Afghanistan and unrest in the wider region. While recalling ulema’s support for the Afghan jihad against Russian occupation, Rabbani queried their silence on dealing with the country’s current situation.
HPC member Qazi Mohammad Amin Wiqad called for getting to the bottom of Afghanistan’s problem through the involvement of religious scholars, who could effectively spread the peace message to the masses in line with their religious duty.
Prominent jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf -- in a not-so-veiled reference to the Taliban -- said the militants were uneducated people, misguided by outsiders. “There are other people behind planning attacks in Afghanistan,” he alleged.
While declaring suicide attacks as un-Islamic, he said the perpetrators were unaware of the punishment they would face for killing the masses.
Regarding the Taliban’s unwillingness to enter negotiations with the government, the MP said: “A warring party staying away from peace parleys is called insurgent.”
In his message read out on the occasion, President Hamid Karzai said Muslim women, children and other civilians were bearing the brunt of the ongoing conflict.
“Regrettably enough, both parties to the war -- killers and victims -- claim to be Muslim, a situation that paves the ground for foreign interference,” the president observed.
In his message, the OIC secretary-general urged all sides to talk out their problems peacefully. War offered no solution and negotiations were the key to the way forward, he argued.
Iranian scholar Mohammad Salar viewed the ongoing war as contrary to Islamic teachings, saying suicide attackers were bound to go to hell. He called for participants to encourage efforts for an end to the war and bringing peace to Afghanistan. (Pajhwok)