KABUL (Pajhwok): Religious leaders and provincial council members met in Kabul on Tuesday, urging people to avoid using amulets because the practice was against Islam.
The joint meeting condemned the broad daylight lynching of a 27-year-old woman in Kabul and urged people to join hands against superstitious activities in the country.
Farkhanda was subjected to mob violence on Thursday after she was accused of burning a copy of the Quran, an allegation that investigators have rejected as false.
The Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs said no incident of Quran burning had taken place in the area.
The meeting accused police of negligence in preventing the mob from killing the woman and asked the government to direct security organs to perform their duties in accordance with the law.
Kabul Ulema Council chief Mualvi Abdul Basir Haqqani said no one would be allowed to misuse Islam and violate the country’s laws and Shariah.
He said Islam stresses investigation before punishing someone for a violation. “Shariah says if a man apostates, he should not be sentenced for three days because he may change his mind, but if he did not, then he should be sentenced to death by a government court,” Haqqani said. “The law is the same for men and women.”
“We will continue our efforts to discourage amulets and other such activities and would take serious action against those involved,” he said.
Provincial council member Maulana Attaullah Faizani said investigations showed Farkhanda had not burnt the Quran, and her killing was a conspiracy by amulet sellers.
“We request people to avoid taking decisions in haste,” he said, adding the Ulema Council and the provincial council would jointly work to expose superstitious activities and explode myths.
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