ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) said on Wednesday that the nation has to decide whether terrorism and sectarian killings are a part of religion or politics.

Speaking at the National Conference on the Ideological Status of the Country, Maulana Sheerani said: “The answer is clear that these killings were part of politics and not religion – let alone speak of Islam.”

The conference was organised by the council, and discussed at length religious ideology compared to material societies.

The council’s chairman, who is due to retire on Dec 16, added that Pakistan needs to be brought out of tradition to adopt practical approaches for future needs. He said the current Pakistan was not the country envisaged by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, but set up by Yahya Khan.

“This is not the 1947 Pakistan, but a country that emerged in 1971,” he said.

“And not the country of the two-nation theory but the outcome of one unit.”

Mr Sheerani also referenced the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was created in 1949 as a way to counter the Soviet bloc and maintained its superiority after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He also said the current war against terror was an American-led conflict and “not our war”, adding that “conspiracies are being hatched against Pakistan to divide the provinces and nationalities among each other”.

Mr Sheerani concluded by saying that religious scholars and ulema should take time to consider these issues and seek solutions. “Besides, we have to decided ourselves if we are the decision makers or servants of the West,” he said.

Special assistant to the prime minister, Barrister Zafrullah Khan said a balance is needed between tradition and modernity, and growth is not possible if this balance is not maintained.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2016