Ulema conference: Afghan clerics set to open contacts today

Apprehension of Pakistani Ulema over ‘agenda’ of proposed conference to be discussed.

ISLAMABAD:

A delegation of Afghan clerics is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss the agenda for an upcoming conference of religious scholars from the two countries, officials said on Saturday.

President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, had agreed to hold the conference in early March at the recent trilateral summit in London.

The conference was scheduled to be held in Kabul by the end of January but was postponed as both sides were not fully prepared. However, sources told The Express Tribune that suspicions of Pakistani clerics about the “agenda and purpose” of the conference caused the delay.

Head of Afghanistan Council of Religious Scholars Qayamud-din-Kashaf will lead the Afghan delegation which will meet with Pakistani religious scholars to invite them to the conference and to discuss its agenda.

Afghan and Pakistani sources told The Express Tribune that the Afghan side has requested for meetings with JUI-F chief Maulna Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Syed Munawar Hasan, JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq and Chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council Allama Tahir Ashrafi.

Ashrafi confirmed that the Afghan clerics would meet him and other religious scholars.

“We are willing to play a role in the Afghan reconciliation process if Taliban representatives are also involved. If the Taliban are not taking part in the peace process, then we will have no role,” Ashrafi told The Express Tribune by phone from Lahore.

The Express Tribune has learnt that the Afghan Taliban have told Pakistani clerics that the conference is in fact against the orthodox militia.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2013.