U.S. Pressure Forced Pakistani Clerics to Declare Suicide Attacks ‘Haram’: MPs

Afghan parliament members say the U.S. pressure on Pakistan has forced the country’s religious scholars to issue fatwa against suicide bombings.

About two weeks ago, the White House said that it will continue to withhold $255 million in military aid to Pakistan out of frustration over what it has characterized as Islamabad’s reluctance to confronting terrorist networks.

 “The statements came as result of the [U.S.] pressures, they [Pakistani officials] attempting to decrease the [ongoing] political pressures; practically they don’t want to stop those who commit suicide attacks but they encourage them to do so,” said MP Khalil Ahmad Shahidzada.

The MPs stressed that Pakistani clerics’ fatwa against suicide bombing is to “deceive” the world.

This comes as more than 1,800 Pakistani Muslim clerics have issued an Islamic directive, or fatwa, forbidding suicide bombings.

“This Fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society,” Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain wrote in a book, cited by Reuters. 

“We can seek guidance from this Fatwa for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism in keeping with the golden principles of Islam.”