Pak Red Mosque cleric calls anti-Taliban fight 'un-Islamic'

December 19, 2014 20:59

The hardline cleric of Pakistan's infamous Red Mosque today stoked fresh controversy by calling the military offensive against Taliban militants in the North Waziristan region 'un-Islamic'.

Abdul Aziz, who survived a 2007 military operation against militants hiding in the mosque when he was caught trying to escape wearing a burqa, said he can prove that the military operation was against the teachings of Islam.

"This operation in the North Waziristan is un-Islamic," Aziz said. "I can debate this issue...call scholars from abroad -- from India and Bangladesh -- and I will prove that this operation is un-Islamic," he said.

Aziz in a TV appearance after Tuesday's Peshawar school attack in which 148 people died refused to unconditionally condemn the attack claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

He has hypocritically expressed grief at the loss of life, and said the TTP's response to the military operation was understandable.

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