A leading group of Pakistani clerics on Friday condemned the Islamic State organisation, amid concerns the hard-line jihadists could gain a foothold in the militant-plagued nuclear state.
The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) said the IS group, which has declared a “caliphate” in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria, was violating Islamic teaching.
The jihadist movement, also known as ISIS, has committed widespread atrocities in territory under its rule, including mass executions, beheadings and forcing women and girls into slavery.
“Islam and Muslims cannot support the killing of innocent people and destruction of their properties at the hands of the ISIS,” the PUC said in a statement.
“The PUC… appeals to people and youth in Islamic countries to not cooperate with any violent group whose teachings or actions are against the teachings of Islam and Prophet Muhammad.”
The PUC call comes as fears grow in Pakistan that the violent call of the IS group could find recruits among the country s myriad of Islamist militant groups.
Pakistan has suffered years of bloody attacks at the hands of homegrown Islamist militants, many linked to Al-Qaeda.
Leaflets supporting the IS organization have been seen in some parts of the northwest, the heartland of groups like the Pakistani Taliban.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) vowed earlier this month to send fighters to support IS jihadists but stopped short of pledging allegiance to the organization’s leader.
(AFP)
