KARACHI: Claiming that barbaric killings of innocent Muslims and religious extremism were part of a vicious conspiracy against Islam and Pakistan, MQM chief Altaf Hussain has urged religious scholars belonging to different schools of thought to play their due role and foil this conspiracy aimed at destabilising the country.

Speaking to a noted Shia scholar from Gilgit-Baltistan, Agha Rahat-ul-Hussaini, on the telephone, the MQM chief said that his foremost effort was to stop innocent peoples’ killings on the basis of religious beliefs.

He said that he was raising his voice for ending hatred and prejudices and he would continue to do so without any fear of repercussions.

Lauding the efforts being made by Mr Hussain, Agha Rahat said that no one in the country had ever spoken so openly in support of the oppressed people in the entire history of Pakistan, says a MQM press release issued from its international secretariat. Later, speaking to prominent Sunni religious scholars Maulana Tanvirul Haq Thanvi, Maulana Asad Deobandi and Maulana Dr Jamil Rathore on the telephone, the MQM chief urged the ulema to issue a unanimous fatwa (religious edict) against killings of innocent people on the basis of sectarian differences.

He asked religious scholars to come forward and play their role for making Pakistan stronger by preaching interfaith harmony, brotherhood and unity among Muslims.