Jehad is 'not mandatory' in Kashmir, says pro-Taliban cleric

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, May 3 (PTI) Contradicting militant groups'
claim that they were engaged in 'jehad' in Kashmir, a hardline
Pakistani cleric, who brokered a peace deal between Taliban
and NWFP government, has said jehad is "not mandatory" in the
Indian state as people there are not demanding Sharia.

Hardline cleric Sufi Mohammad, the chief of the banned
Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi, said the Kashmiris are
demanding a state and not Sharia or Islamic law. "Therefore,
jehad is not mandatory in Kashmir."

"Today there is no place in the world where 'jehad bil
qataal' (holy war) is taking place," Muhammad said in an
interview with Geo News channel. He said that Sharia
prohibited the stopping of vices through the use of force.

He also said democracy is 'kufar' (infidelity) and
backing democratic forces is useless. "Even I do not offer
prayers under pro-democracy people," the cleric said.

Former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Fazlur Rehman are searching for
Sharia in democracy, he claimed.

Muhammad said women are not allowed to go out of their
homes except to perform Haj or the pilgrimage to Mecca. There
is no need to seek a wife's permission for jehad or holy war.

He was also of the opinion that there is no Islamic
Sharia system in Saudi Arabia or Iran. PTI RHL
SAK
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