RASC News Agency: Rahmatullah Andar, former spokesperson for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, has accused Maulana Fazlur Rehman of decades-long complicity in fueling extremism and distorting religious principles to serve political interests. In a scathing critique, Andar asserted that the Pakistani cleric has spent years issuing jihadist decrees to strengthen extremist groups, glorifying Taliban suicide attacks as the “supreme form of jihad” while prioritizing Pakistan’s geopolitical ambitions over the true essence of Islam.
He further emphasized that Fazlur Rehman has consistently shielded the Taliban from condemnation, legitimizing their insurgency against Afghanistani security forces. A week after the assassination of Hamid-ul-Haq Haqqani, the head of the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Fazlur Rehman denounced the attack, declaring that the killing of Muslims is not jihad but an act of terrorism. Andar, responding sharply, accused Fazlur Rehman of religious hypocrisy and betrayal, asserting that his time of unchecked influence has now run its course. He lambasted the cleric for exploiting Islam as a political shield while having no true allegiance to its values.
The former Afghanistani official warned that just as Fazlur Rehman had once issued fatwas sanctioning jihad against others, the day would come when similar religious rulings would be declared against him. “A time will arrive when Fazlur Rehman will be forced to renounce his past rhetoric, condemning as forbidden the very bloodshed he once deemed sacred,” Andar forewarned. Notably, while Fazlur Rehman previously hailed the Taliban’s war against the Afghanistani Republic as a legitimate jihad, he now decries the attack on the Haqqania seminary in Pakistan as an act of terrorism a stark contradiction that has further deepened suspicions surrounding his ideological allegiances.
The controversial Pakistani cleric has long faced allegations of abetting the Taliban and fostering extremism, raising grave concerns over his enduring influence in the region.
