Pakistani religious scholars address a news conference in Islamabad.
Pakistani Muslim clerics have urged the Islamabad government to launch an all-out military operation against militant groups operating across the violence-wracked country.
The clerics belonging to different schools of thought urged the government to launch military offensives against the militants who had caused irreparable loss to both Islam and Pakistan.
œThey (Taliban) don’t deserve any leniency,” said the clerics in a joint-statement during a gathering in eastern city of Lahore.
The clerics also strongly condemned a series of recent attacks by militants that targeted Christian worshippers and Muslim civilians in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar.
Condemning a recent deadly attack at a church in Peshawar, the clerics said such incidents were contrary to the teachings of Islam.
œTaliban™s view point that attacks on churches is in line with the principles of Islam is totally wrong and against the teaching of Islam,” said the clerics in the joint-statement.
They also described killing of innocent minorities as ˜un-Islamic™ and suggested exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of this heinous and inhumane act.
Pakistani security officials said at least 81 people were confirmed dead after Taliban bombers attacked Christian worshippers in September.
A spate of recent bombings has claimed the lives of more than 140 people across Peshawar in recent weeks.
Militants have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians, and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani Army.
Pakistani security forces have launched several operations in the troubled northwest and southwest in a bid to flush out militants from the tribal zone.
Despite the Pakistani government’s operations against pro-Taliban militants and associated groups, they have been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country and kill thousands of people.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in the bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war on terror.
Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
JR/PR
Copyright: Press TV