President Mamnoon Hussain said that the ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ fatwa would help eradicate terrorism and prove instrumental in reforming the society drifted away from the right path due to negative propaganda of aberrant elements. Addressing the launch of the ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ at the President House, he said that the decree , prepared by religious scholars and Wafaqul Madaris after thorough consultations was a step in the right direction reiterating that Pakistan was an Islamic state believing in peace, tolerance, justice and love. According to a report, the Islamic directive or fatwa has been issued by more than 1,800 Pakistani religious scholars which declares suicide bombings forbidden or ‘haraam’. The president said that the launch of the national narrative on counter-terrorism manifested that the whole nation was extremely serious on the issue and would be successful in achieving its objectives through unity. He said that according to Islamic teachings, extremism, bloodshed and suicide bombing were categorized as spreading evil on earth, which was categorically prohibited and unjustified.
He said the decree would not only promote a positive image of the Islamic teachings and Pakistani society in the world but also help in overcoming the menace of extremism. He expressed the satisfaction that under the Paigham-e-Pakistan, different religious schools of thought had unanimously prepared an impressive document in the light of the teachings of Quran and Sunnah whereby rationale behind sectarianism and use of religion for spreading evil on earth stood rebutted and the true face of Islam was revealed. The president pointed out that the state and its institutions to a certain extent fell short of discharging their responsibilities from the 1970s to 1990s which resulted in several complexities. He said the nation sacrificed 70,000 precious lives and suffered a huge financial loss due to terrorism and urged all segments of the nation to make a resolve not to repeat such mistakes.
Mamnoon said the roots of extremism and militancy lie in intolerance and not appreciating different points of views, which fostered sectarianism. He mentioned that the renunciation of research and dogmatism and intolerance resulted in dreadful forms of sectarianism. The president said that it was imperative that religious scholars, intellectuals and all institutions of the state must be vigilant and apart from individual efforts, should collectively work with a mutual consensus to safeguard the nation against divisiveness. Finally the government has taken a good step and introduced national counter terrorism narrative. To win war against terrorism it was imperative to counter terrorist’s narrative by introducing comprehensive counter terrorism narrative. The narrative will also create good image for Pakistan at international level. We hope that the government would make every possible step to get the objectives of Paigham-e-Pakistan.
