New Delhi, Dec. 3: The All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques has decided to hold an international conference to find ways to “delink Islam and terrorism”.

The organisation’s general secretary, Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, said as many as 500 Muslim religious leaders from across the world would attend the conference. Its date will be announced after Id on Tuesday.

The participants, from countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, will sit together to evolve strategies to counter the threat posed by “terrorism” and its perceived links with Islam.

The announcement of the meet comes days after militants attacked Mumbai, killing nearly 180 people.

Ilyasi said the conference would demand that all terrorist organisations, like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami, remove words with Islamic connotations from their names.

“How can a terrorist organisation like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which believes in bloodbath, use the name of Prophet Mohammed, who was one of the greatest messengers of peace. It is highly condemnable,” the imam said.

The shahi imam of Pakistan, Maulana Abdul Gafoor, Lahore Juma Masjid imam Abdul Dabir, Iran’s shahi imam Maulana Ayetollah Jennathi, China’s head mufti Maulana Abdul Wahid and Afghanistan’s chief mufti Zafaruddin are some of the significant names expected to fly in to India for the conference.

Imams are priests while muftis are scholars who have the right to issue fatwas.

Another important invitee to the meet is Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a pro-Taliban cleric who has emerged as a key politician in Pakistan. Rahman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, was one of the main contenders for the post of Pakistan Prime Minister.

“Our priority is to invite religious heads from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Palestine, which are victims of terrorism in one way or the other. We have also invited representatives from madarsas that have been accused of being breeding grounds of terrorism like the Jamia Azhar madarsa in Egypt,” Ilyasi said.

The organisation of imams, which has 5,30,000 members, has appealed to clerics across the country to denounce terrorism and the “brutal killing of Jews” in Mumbai during prayers this Friday.

A statement issued by the organisation has asked Muslims to celebrate a “simple” Id and wear black ribbons to express their grief and solidarity.