ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the union of 15,000 religious schools in the country on Thursday joined the nation in condemning the massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar - but with a warning.

“We condemn the Peshawar incident and will pray for the departed souls on Friday. But we will not allow anyone to target our students or madaris in the garb of a crackdown,” deputy secretary general of Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia, Qazi Abdul Rasheed, told a press conference here.

He was flanked by Maulana Abdul Ghaffar, administrator of Jamia Fareedia, and Maulana Zahoor Alvi, the administrators of Jamia Mohammadia where the press conference was held.

Maulana Abdul Aziz of the redoubtable Lal Masjid was conspicuous by his absence, the journalists covering the event noted.

“We never stood for terrorism, or do today,” declared Qazi Rasheed and openly invited the authorities to bring to the Wafaqul Madaris “any complaint they may have against any madrasa affiliated with us.”

Asked for comments on the lifting of moratorium on death penalty, he said, “There is no role for the government in this matter in Islam.”

“Only the kins of the victims can pardon the killer with or without blood money,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014