LARKANA, March 25: About forty ulema and religious leaders belonging to various schools of thought at ulema conference held in connection with the campaign on the theme “We can end honour killings” have declared that killing of men and women after dubbing them karo and kari is un-Islamic and against Shariah.

The Indus Development Society Larkana organized the conference here on Friday.

They said that those murdered on suspicion of illicit relations and to settle any other score were Shaheed (martyr) and those who kill them over false allegation deserve death penalty.

Iranian scholar Shaikh Ali Fazli said that even four eyewitnesses who stand witness on oath for four time could not justify the murder of the person accused of karo-kari.

He said that if there was any charge of adultery, the accused could only be punished in accordance with injunction of Shariah.

Mr Fazli said that killing a person over false allegation or on suspicion was not only ‘haram’ (forbidden) but also against Shariah and un-Islamic. Hafiz Ahmed Ali Abbasi of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam said that murders under karo-kari could be stopped if decisions in such matters were sought by ulema instead arbitration by waderas and landlords.

He said that giving publicity to love marriages on the pretext of premi-jora by media had not only vitiated the concept of love after marriage but also increased murders under karo-kari.

Maulana Badaruddin Surahio said that those who kill others under karo-kari were themselves full of sins, they should first end their own lives.

Maulvi Abdul Rehman Tunio, Hafiz Gul Hassan and Hakim Ali Tunio spoke against karo-kari and emphasized on marrying women according to their will as has allowed by Shariah.