LAHORE, Oct 15: Following in the footsteps of the Muttahida Ulema Council, the official Muttahida Ulema Board, Punjab, has also declared suicide attacks illegitimate.

“Any person or party involved in suicide attacks has no moral or religious validity nor any link with Islam,” says an official statement issued after the maiden meeting of the re-organised Board here on Wednesday.

The statement implies that the attacks were illegal anywhere in the world, while the Council’s had declared such acts illegal only within Pakistan.

Condemning all acts of terrorism, the Board demanded the government should point out their root-causes and unveil the hands behind these cowardly acts.

Offering its full support to the government on national issues and to resolve crises, it also sought protection of geographic and ideological entities of the country against any threat and enforcement of Quranic injunctions and Sunnah in society.

Jamia Naeemia’s Dr Sarfraz Naeemi, who had chaired the Council meeting on Tuesday, was also among the participants to the Board meeting held with MNA Sahibzada Fazal Karim in the chair.

Mr Karim said the Board would soon organise a larger meeting of ulema to approve a broader agenda. He would not detail the agenda.

Haji Ehsanuddin Qureshi and Khizar Hayat Gondal, minister and secretary of Auqaf department, respectively, Punjab Inspector-General Shaukat Javed, Home Secretary Nadeemul Hasan, Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi, Abdul Jalil Naqvi, Syed Mahfooz Mashhadi, Abdul Rauf and Maulana Yousaf Anwar also attended the meeting.