QUETTA, Pakistan, March 14 (UPI) -- Top religious scholars in Pakistan, concerned about increases in drug smuggling and drug use, have declared the use of heroin to be un-Islamic.
The fatwa was issued by 40 muftis, or Muslim scholars, from all districts of the Baluchistan province who attended a seminar in Quetta, the BBC reported Sunday.
Members of Pakistan's military Anti-Narcotics Force also attended the seminar, discussing with religious leaders the growing drug threat.
With poppy cultivation increasing in Afghanistan and with Baluchistan's mountains and deserts thwarting police, the drug problem is becoming a major concern for the region Resources to tackle smugglers and rehabilitate drug users are thinly stretched.
Fatwas are considered legal pronouncements in Islam and are taken very seriously by the Muslim community. By issuing the anti-heroin fatwa, the muftis were trying to convey to Pakistanis that the cultivation and use of drugs violate the teachings of the Koran.
Most of the heroin which ends up in Western European markets is smuggled through Pakistan. Pakistan itself currently has about a half-million heroin addicts.
