| Mullahs from the Jamia Haqqania madrassa in Nowshera district of Frontier province have declared that Uzbek militants killed in South Waziristan are “martyrs”. A pamphlet distributed here on Monday said that the mullahs rejected previous fatwas issued soon after clashes between Uzbek militants and Ahmedzai Wazirs began on March 18 around Wana, South Waziristan, stating that the Uzbeks died a “haraam death” as it was a war between Uzbeks and Pushoons. The pamphlet from an unnamed group urged the government officials to stay away from operations against “mujahideen”. The Jamia Haqqanian clerics who signed the fatwa, written in Pashto, are Sheikhul Hadith Maulana Dr Sheikh Sher Ali Shah, Sheikhul Hadith Hazrat Ustaz Naseeb Khan, Hazrat Mufti Saeedur Rehman and Mufti Rashid Ahmed, the pamphlet claimed. It said the US and its allies were involved in a “vicious propaganda against Uzbek mujahideen, who were fighting in the way of Allah”. |