Press Release
Sharia-Based Policy Dictates that, Instead of Closing Borders, You Should Break the Imposed Borders
(Translated)

Since mid-October—following intense border clashes, Pakistan’s airstrikes inside Afghanistan, and retaliatory actions by Afghan forces—the main crossing points along the Durand Line have remained closed. This has brought bilateral trade to a complete halt, cut off family visits and medical travel, and imposed heavy monthly economic losses—amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars—on Muslim people on both sides.

We strongly condemn the policies of both countries that have kept the border closed for nearly three and a half months and have caused harm and losses to both Muslim sides. We consider this contrary to Islamic values and rulings: a policy that has fueled division and inflamed negative sentiments against Muslim brothers.

Pakistan’s government has closed the border in order to obtain credible and practical security guarantees from Afghanistan’s government against Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)—which, according to Pakistan’s claim, organizes attacks on Pakistan from Afghan soil—whereas the main motive of Pakistan’s rulers is as follows:

First: Within Pakistan’s army, a particular circle of military officials—seeking to render service to their American patrons and also to preserve their political survival at home—pursues U.S. policies in the region.

This is advanced under the banner of “counterterrorism,” but in practice the main cost is paid by Muslim people in Pakistan (especially in the tribal areas) and by Muslim people in Afghanistan as well. In reality, Pakistan’s army leadership has effectively assumed the role of the infantry of America’s security projects and is carrying out its mission in the region. Pakistan’s military and political leadership, instead of allegiance (wilayah) to Allah (swt), the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), and the believers, has chosen allegiance to the pharaohs of the age. And today, the largest army in the Muslim world—rather than defending the oppressed people of Gaza—has joined the “Gaza Peace Council”, so as to disarm the mujahideen of Gaza and play a role on behalf of colonial powers.

Second: At the domestic level as well, a particular circle within the army’s leadership is trying—by foregrounding the “security threat from Afghanistan”—to justify its hardline military and security policies against the people of Pakistan and to entrench the concentration of power in the hands of military institutions. In the shadow of recurring controversies and tensions with Afghanistan and India, Asim Munir was able to expand his influence and centralize power within the army to an unprecedented extent—an outcome that has been described as a “silent coup.” Pakistan’s army leadership, through provocative statements against Afghanistan, seeks not to solve the problem but to “manage the crisis,” because it sees its interests in the continuation and escalation of the crisis.

On the other side, Afghanistan’s rulers, instead of adopting a realistic and strategic understanding of U.S. policies in the region, have taken non-political measures. On the one hand, they are trying to stir up and strengthen nationalist and anti-Pakistan sentiments; on the other, in their foreign policy they are moving toward a rushed rapprochement with India—without assessing its security and political consequences and without taking into account, from a Sharia perspective, the Indian state’s hostility toward Muslims. As a result, Afghanistan’s rulers—rather than taking a position within the framework of Sharia-based policy and safeguarding Muslim interests—have entered a competitive arena whose benefits go to the United States and India, while its harm falls on the Muslims of the region. A Muslim statesman, however, views political issues through the lens of Islamic Aqidah, not through the lens of national interest.

Sharia-based policy dictates that, instead of closing borders, the “cancerous” Durand Line—an inheritance of British India’s colonial rule and a source of division in the region—must be removed. Our message to those among the power holders in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are sincere and whose standard for action is Islam and Sharia rulings is this: prevent the continuation of tensions and take steps toward establishing the Rightly Guided Caliphate (Khilafah Rashidah), so that South Asia, Afghanistan and Central Asia becomes the heart of the second Rightly Guided Caliphate and an axis of unity and dignity for the Ummah through Jihad and Izhar-ud-Deen.

[وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلاَ تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ وَاصْبِرُواْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ]

“And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.” [Al-Anfal:46]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Afghanistan