Pakistani clerics leave for trilateral conference on Afghanistan in Jakarta

This file photo shows the president of Indonesia Jokowi with the High Peace Council of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, at the Presidential Palace of Bogor, West Java, Nov. 21, 2017. (Photo courtesy: Presidential palace/Jakarta)

• As religious clerics from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia meet to discuss the war-torn country, hopes rise that they will bring warring factions to the peace process.
• Earlier, Pakistani religious scholars unanimously issued a fatwa (decree) in which they declared all forms of terrorism and suicide attacks un-Islamic.

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Pakistan clerics left for the Indonesian capital Jakarta early on Wednesday where they will attend the trilateral Ulema Conference for peace in Afghanistan.
Clerics from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia will discuss peace efforts in the war-torn southeast Asian country at the conference on Friday.
Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, head of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), told Arab News that it is an important initiative but that the “real solution lies in dialogue among all stakeholders in Afghanistan.”   
Ashrafi added that “religious scholars can only appeal through such conferences.”
“Pakistan has always supported peace efforts in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that he had been invited to the conference, but he had pre-scheduled commitments. He dismissed media reports that he was not attending the trilateral conference at the request of the Afghan Taliban.
“We have not received any letter or message from the Afghan Taliban asking not to attend the trilateral conference,” he said.
Dr. Qibla Ayaz, head of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the constitutional body that advises the government on religious aspects of law, and Rector Islamic International University Islamabad (IIUI), Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, are part of the Pakistani delegation traveling to Jakarta.
Dr. Ayaz told Arab News that clerics from different sects are part of the Pakistani delegation.
“Earlier, Pakistani religious scholars unanimously issued a fatwa (decree) in which they declared all forms of terrorism and suicide attacks un-Islamic. I think Indonesia would want to benefit from the manner in which we developed the narrative against militancy,” said Dr. Ayaz.
He added that holding the trilateral conference is important for peace in neighboring Afghanistan and the region.
In November 2017, Chairman Afghan High Peace Council Karim Khalili and other senior council members visited Indonesia and discussed the proposal of holding trilateral conference of Ulemas (religious clerics) from Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As Indonesia is one of the major Muslim countries, the Afghan High Peace Council asked Jakarta to support the peace efforts in Afghanistan through religious clerics as they still have some influence over Taliban and its warring factions.
Ayaz expressed the hope that the deliberations would lead to a unanimous appeal for peace in Afghanistan with religious clerics urging the factions to stop violence and join the peace process.