Not clerics, only govt can declare 'jehad', 'fatwa': Pak minister

Islamabad: Only the government has the right to declare 'jihad' and 'fatwa' and no one else can, Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said.

He asked the clerics to stop issuing fatwas, or decrees, on the social media and said those violating the law will be punished.

“No Maulvi of any street has the authority to declare anybody as non-Muslim,” the News quoted the minister as saying on Friday. He said such fatwas spread anarchy.

“We need to put an end to such trends which can threaten the country’s internal security,” he said.

He also said that provisions enshrined in the constitution state that “no law can be enacted against the spirit of Islamic tenets”.