BARA: Mufti Munir Shakir, a renowned religious scholar, has declared the trade of opium "halal," legitimate, in the light of Islamic teachings during his routine sermon on an unlicensed FM radio station operating in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency the other day. The Mufti is a popular religious scholar in Khyber Agency and adjacent areas of Afghanistan where a large number of people very regularly listen to his sermons on the FM radio station set up in Malakdin Khel area of Bara for the last six months. Poppy cultivation has increased several times in the tribal belt over last four years. Not only have the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan banned the business and cultivation of opium but almost all religious scholars in both the countries have declared the trade and cultivation of poppy prohibited in Islam. Answering a question, Munir Shakir declared the cultivation and trade of opium legitimate on the grounds that it was mostly used in about 98 percent medication. He said the use of anything that had the potential of having a positive impact and benifit on human beings could not be declared illegitimate and prohibited in Islam.