Decree from pulpit: Ulema Council slams IS actions

PUC says IS group, which has declared caliphate in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria, was violating Islamic teaching

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) condemned on Friday the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, amid concerns that the hardliners could gain a foothold in the militancy-hit country. The PUC said the IS group, which has declared a caliphate in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria, was violating Islamic teaching. The militant movement, also known as ISIS, has committed executions, beheadings and forcing women and girls into slavery in the territory under its control. “Islam and Muslims cannot support the killing of innocent people and destruction of their properties at the hands of the ISIS,” the PUC said in a statement. “The PUC... appeals to people and youth in Islamic countries to not cooperate with any violent group whose teachings or actions are against the teachings of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.