MOVING closer to the demand of Pakistan, a senior cleric of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Mufti Abdul Rauf, has termed cross-border attacks from the country to Pakistan or any other neighbouring country as un-Islamic and haraam. Rauf, in a video message on Twitter, differentiated between the various forms of jihad or holy war and said the form of jihad which is compulsory for all Muslims and citizens is when a country’s soil is invaded or suffers from foreign intrusions. He further said that preventive or proactive jihad would always be conditional on permission given by the rulers or the government of the country and any violation of the government’s permission would be terrorism and not holy war.
The views expressed by the senior cleric are, no doubt, reflective of the teachings of Islam on this sensitive issue and the informal decree comes after Pakistan sought a public decree from the Afghan Taliban chief declaring activities of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as un-Islamic. Pakistan made the demand after an upsurge in terrorist attacks emanating from Afghan soil, where TTP elements are enjoying hospitality of the Taliban regime. The decree is also in line with the firm assurances given by the Taliban leadership to the international community that it will not allow the use of Afghan soil for terrorist attacks against any other country. However, there are two aspects of the issue – Pakistan wanted a clear-cut statement on the issue by none other than Taliban Supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and why practical steps are not being issued to prevent terrorist attacks against Pakistan. If what Mufti Abul Rauf has said is the official position of the Taliban Government then there should be no reluctance on the part of the supreme leader to issue a formal decree. The continuous terrorist attacks against Pakistan (from Afghan soil) and inaction of the Taliban Government are straining relations between the two brotherly countries and, therefore, Kabul should come out with a strong policy against remnants of terrorism.
