The multireligious Board of Directors of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) have issued the following statement following an attack claimed by the so-called ISIS on a wedding reception in Kabul, Afghanistan, which has left 63 dead and nearly 200 injured:

“The Board extends its condolences and sympathies to those affected by this cowardly attack on civilians and condemns wholeheartedly the misuse of religion to target innocents in pursuit of misguided religious or political ends.

This attacks, as with others that have torn repeatedly at the fabric of Afghan society, seeks to establish religious affiliation as a legitimate pathway to murder. Every person has a right to live according to the values of common citizenship and no justification can be found in any religion to kill innocents, or to target groups on the basis of their belief systems.

We would like to express our solidarity with all those working towards peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and call on the international community to do all it can to minimise attacks based on a twisted and indefensible distortion of true religious belief, underpinned always by the twin values of peace and acceptance.”