Chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council and Secretary General of the International Tanzeem-e-Harmain Sharifain, Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, said intellectual terrorism is more dangerous than physical terrorism, stressing the need for a joint and urgent response by scholars, religious institutions, seminaries and governments to counter extremist narratives. Addressing an international conference at the Islamic University of Madinah in Madina Munawara, Ashrafi said elements misleading the Muslim youth in the name of Islam and jihad had caused "irreparable damage" to the Muslim world.

He called for the ideologies, objectives and practices of extremist and terrorist groups to be exposed through scholarly and intellectual discourse so that young people could be protected from misleading narratives. Ashrafi said Pakistan had remained in a state of conflict for the past 45 years and claimed that around 100,000 Pakistanis had fallen victim to terrorism since 1990. "We have to block the path of all forces that mislead young people in the name of religion, Islam and jihad, whether they operate under the names of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Daesh or Houthis," he said, adding that their "deviant ideologies" must be presented before the public, particularly the younger generation, without fear, pressure or expediency.

The PUC chief said countering ideological deviation required more than security measures, stressing the importance of education, knowledge, dialogue, guidance by religious scholars and promotion of authentic Islamic thought. Commenting on the conflict involving the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, Ashrafi said it should neither be viewed as a Shia-Sunni conflict nor merely as a bilateral dispute between two countries. He described the Houthis as a terrorist organisation and alleged that they had killed innocent people in Yemen.

He said the killing of innocent people in Yemen was condemnable just as the killing of Palestinians was unacceptable. Ashrafi further alleged that the Houthis invoked Islam and Palestine while allowing Israeli aircraft access and targeting Saudi aircraft, saying such conduct had no connection with Islamic ethics or genuine support for the Palestinian people. He said the sanctity, security and peace of the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah were of paramount importance to the entire Muslim Ummah.

"The clear and unanimous position of scholars, muftis and sheikhs across the Muslim world is that any attack on the Two Holy Mosques or the land of the Two Holy Mosques is unacceptable to the entire Ummah," he said. Ashrafi said the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen had the right to take necessary measures to protect their people, territories, peace and security.