KABUL (TCA) — Religious scholars attending the two-day International Ulema Conference for Peace and Security in Afghanistan in Saudi Arabia on July 11 issued a declaration and called on the Taliban to denounce violence and come to the peace talks table, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.
The scholars from the Islamic world reaffirmed their support for a just, lasting, comprehensive and acceptable resolution of the ongoing war in Afghanistan and called on both the Afghan government and the Taliban to conform to a truce and ceasefire.
They stated that the only way to end the current crisis in Afghanistan and establish durable peace in the war-ravaged Muslim nation was the resumption of the peace process and national reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
They also stated that the ongoing violence and killing of innocent people was in contradiction to the teachings of Islam.
The declaration states that the delegates at the summit reviewed the “sufferings endured by the Muslim Afghan people with the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of sacred lives, and the wasting of the Muslim state’s resources in a prevailing environment that is in no way approved by the noble Islamic faith which accords prime value to security and which offers a whole range of texts calling for concerted action to establish peace in the Muslim societies and to encourage reconciliation among Muslims, a reconciliation which Islam places on a high pedestal as a prime act to please Allah, Mighty and Sublime be He.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani hailed the declaration issued by the summit delegates, saying Afghanistan welcomes the Ulema’s decision that the war in Afghanistan is a “Fitna” (Rebellion).
The International Ulema Conference on Afghanistan Peace and Security got underway on Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia – with a 35-member Ulema delegation from Afghanistan led by head of the Ulema Council, Mawlawi Qayamuddin Kashaf, in attendance.
More than 200 representatives from 57 countries and 108 Ulema members from 32 countries attended the summit.
