LAHORE, Aug 24: At least 50 religious figures associated with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) have declared haram (forbidden) the promotion of prejudices among Muslims on the basis of colour, race or language.

In a decree issued by them here on Wednesday, it was said that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in his last sermon warned Muslims against inflaming linguistic and other biases.

It appealed to those who were promoting hatred on linguistic basis to make Islam and Pakistan their identity instead of introducing them selves as Mohajir, Pathan, Balochi, Sindhi or Punjabi. It said terrorists were making their place in hell, as they were killing innocent people.

The decree said Islam allowed the rulers to crush those patronising the killers, punish them or banish them from the country.

The decree said the army chief of an Islamic state was responsible for crushing any uprising in the state and that was what firstcaliph Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique (R.A.) did in his time.

It said it was the time for the army to play its role to protect life, honour and property of more than 20 million Karachiites, as police had completely failed to quell violence, which had paralysed the port city for the last many months.

Allama Muhammad Sharif, Syed Husainuddin, Pir Afzal Qadri, Dr Ashraf Jalali, Sahibzada Abdul Malik, Mufti Fazlur Rehman, Prof Ashfaq Jalali, Iqbal Chishti and Mufti Imran Hanfi were among those who signed the decree.