Saeed, LeT working against Islam: Scholars

Criticising Lashkar-e-Tayiba for working against the teachings of Islam, Indian Muslim scholars have advocated severe punishment for Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, considered to be the terrorist outfit's frontal organisation.

"We believe Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the LeT chief, is a khawarij (rebel) and needs to be punished under the law," secretary general of the Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees, Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi Salfi, said.

The Ahl-e-Hadees sect is often criticised for sharing its ideology with the LeT or Dawa-al-Irshad, which is headed by Saeed.

Clarifying his sect's stance, Maulana Salfi said both Saeed and the Taliban were part of an international conspiracy against Islam.

Maulana Salfi said Islam does not endorse extremism, and said bomb blasts and suicide attacks were forbidden in Islam.

"There was no justification whatsoever for such acts of terrorism and wanton killings," The Daily Times quoted Maulana Salfi, as saying.

"A majority of Ahl-e-Hadees followers in Pakistan are also up in arms against Saeed for taking over their mosques and other establishments," he added.