KARACHI, Oct 10: The religious scholars of different seminaries have drawn the attention of the Ummah towards the ongoing US attacks on Afghanistan, terming it a worst example of collective terrorism in which, they said, thousands of innocent citizens were being killed, maimed and rendered homeless.

They said that the situation enjoined on the Muslims to contribute towards Afghanistan, whatever one could afford in Jehad.

In a joint statement, signed by over 60 Ulema from different cities, they pointed out that the anti-Islam designs of the US had been exposed with its announcement that not only Afghanistan but other countries would also be targeted during the campaign.

This announcement was enough to open the eyes of the government, they said, adding that Pakistan and other Muslim countries had pledged to extend cooperation to the US to eliminate terrorism, but not to cooperate in terrorism.

They pointed out that President Perez Musharraf, in his recent press conference, had confessed that there were indications about “involvement of Osama bin Laden in the September 11 incidents to some extent,” which meant that whatever evidence had come to the fore was not more than a suspicion.

“The question then arises that which law of justice permits to punish an accused merely on the basis of suspicion and to attack on the entire country to penalize its population,” they asked.

The Ulema said that extending cooperation in an act of oppression was neither justified by Shariat nor ethically it could be termed according to the recognised principles of justice and fair play. In the end, they said, the US would have to repent its oppressive and unwise decision.

“If the US has an iota of justice and fair play, instead of responding to terrorism by adopting a policy of terrorism, it should examine the reasons which have been creating hatred and unrest against it in the Third World, where people are bent upon destroying it at the cost of their life,” the statement added.

The signatories to the statement included from Karachi, Mufti Muhammad Rafi Osmani, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Osmani, Maulana Saleemullah Khan, Mufti Moneebur Rehman, Dr Abdul Razzaq Skindar, Maulana Abdul Rehman Sulfi, Allama Abbas Kumaili, Maulana Qari Razaul Mustafa; from Multan, Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalundhri, Maulana Syed Qamaruddin Shah, Maulana Abdul Sattar, Maulana Hidayatullah Pasrori, Maulana Ghulam Mustafa Rizvi; from Lahore, Maulana Obaidullah, Maulana Abdul Rehman Ashrafi, Dr Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Quaderi; from Quetta, Maulana Abdul Zahir; from Sargodha, Maulana Syed Abdul Quddous Tirmizi, Maulana Ahmad Saeed hashmi, Maulana Zia-ul-Haq, Maulana Muhammad Salim Anwar, Maulana Riaz Ahmad, Maulana Muhammad Ashraf Ali; from Faisalabad, Maulana Qari Ilyas, Maulana Muhammad Idrees, Maulana Muhammad Zarif, Maulana Syed Javed Hussain Shah, and from Sukkur, Maulana Asad Thanvi and others.