ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday called for action against individuals and groups misusing Islam to incite “terrorism,” urging unity among all segments of society to defeat militancy amid a surge in attacks across the country in recent months. 
Earlier this week, Naqvi had announced plans to consult religious scholars from different sects to develop a unified narrative in the war against terror. The efforts come nearly two weeks after separatist militants killed over 50 people in the country’s largest province of Balochistan in a string of coordinated attacks on army and paramilitary camps, police stations, railway lines and highways on the night of Aug. 25-26. 
Elsewhere in the country, particularly the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, religiously motivated groups like the Pakistani Taliban have also stepped up attacks, daily targeting security forces convoys and check posts, and carrying out targeted killings and kidnappings of security and government officials.
“The most important thing is that we unite as Pakistanis. Paths of those who are leading people astray by misusing Islam to foment terrorism should be stopped,” Naqvi said on Friday as he addressed a meeting of religious scholars.
“We have to get out of this fire [of terrorism] which we can’t without your help [religious scholars].”
Pakistan has also been wracked in recent years by so-called blasphemy protests by hard-line religious groups, and lynchings over the issue are common in the Islamic republic where blasphemy can legally carry the death penalty. Legal processes are frequently preceded by vigilante action based on rumors or complaints and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a report on Pakistan last December that in many cases the perpetrators operate with impunity.
Speaking about these issues, Naqvi stressed the importance of involving religious scholars from all schools of thought to formulate a strategy against “extremism.” He reiterated the government’s stance that anyone taking up arms against the state would be considered a “terrorist” and killing individuals in the name of Islam was neither permitted by the religion, nor Pakistani laws. 
Naqvi announced that Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain would accompany him on a trip to all provinces along with ulema leaders to spread the “true message” of Islam.
“We have to give the same message that using Islam for wrongful purposes needs to be stopped,” he said. 
“The interior and religious ministry will work with you [ulema] together and follow your suggestions. We have to give a strong message in this regard.”
Pakistan has blamed the recent surge in attacks on regional neighbors, including Afghanistan, where it says the coming to power of the Afghan Taliban in 2021 has emboldened anti-Pakistan groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Kabul says it does not allow its territory to be used by terror groups. 
Pakistan also says that India and Afghanistan are fomenting militancy in Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency. Ethnic Baloch militants say they are fighting for secession due to what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation, which denies the charge.

KARACHI: The family of a father-daughter duo who were killed in a headline-grabbing hit-and-run accident in Karachi last month have pardoned the main suspect Natasha Danish, according to an affidavit released to the media on Friday.
The case sparked widespread public and media outrage, with people alleging the police were not investigating it properly as the suspect was from a wealthy and influential family. 
CCTV footage of the accident was widely circulated on social media, showing a Toyota Land Cruiser allegedly driven by Iqbal hitting a motorbike, killing a woman and her father. Five others were also injured in the incident. The vehicle’s alleged driver is the wife of well-known businessman Danish Iqbal. She is the CEO of Metro Capital (Private) Limited and JSDN Electric Limited, two companies owned by her husband under the Metro Power business group.
Iqbal’s lawyers initially used long-term psychiatric treatment as a defense but the suspect’s urine sample later tested positive for methamphetamine or ‘ice.’ 
“I, Romana Imran, widow of Imran Arif [...] do hereby state on oath. I say that we face amicable patch-up with the matter and I being the widow of the deceased have forgiven the above-mentioned accused person Natasha Danish and Muhammad Danish Iqbal in the name of Almighty Allah who is very kind and merciful,” the affidavit submitted in court and seen by Arab News said. 
Bearing Imran’s signature, the affidavit quoted her as saying she had no objection if the court granted bail to Iqbal as the “unfortunate” incident was an “unintentional accident.” Romana said she was filing the affidavit “without any pressure, force, compulsion, coercion and enticement.” 
Although the affidavit did not mention if any money exchanged hands, deals that involve “blood money,” called diyat, as compensation paid to victims’ families are a common and accepted practice in Islamic law and Pakistan’s criminal code.