(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Scrambled to stop rising violence in the war-torn country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appealed to imams to use their influence to sway the Taliban fighters from using turbans and the Islamic attires to launch attacks.
"From our point of view, by misusing Islamic values (the insurgents) want to draw a bad picture of Islam for the people of the world," Karzai’s spokesman Siyamak Herawi said, Reuters reported.
Karzai recently met with members of ulema councils -- influential bodies of imams that regulate religious issues -- from around the country to discuss the use of turbans by the Taliban to launch attacks.
Last month, two separate turban bombings killed the mayor of the southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, and a senior imam in the city.
The attacks raised questions about how to guard against this new ploy without causing religious offence.
Bombers in Afghanistan and Pakistan have also used women's burqas to disguise themselves.
Guards at some government ministries in Kabul are now asking men to remove their turbans for security checks.
Herawi said Karzai asked the ulema to launch a campaign to convince insurgents not to use turbans and other religious attire to carry out suicide bombings.
He also appealed to ulema to warn insurgents against targeting mosques and to make them aware that suicide was un-Islamic.
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9 August 2011 - 19:30
News ID: 258722
Scrambled to stop rising violence in the war-torn country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appealed to imams to use their influence to sway the Taliban fighters from using turbans and the Islamic attires to launch attacks.
