New Delhi: Chief of banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Maulana Masood Azhar has said that in Islam the only meaning of 'jihad' was killing, even as another militant group supporter asked Pakistan to declare that suicide bombing against West was 'jihad'.

"In Islam, the only meaning of 'jihad' is killing, and those who projected the concepts Jihad Akbar and Jihad Asghar were against Islam," Azhar was quoted by an Urdu daily Nawa-e-Waqt as saying.

Azhar was speaking at a gathering at Pattoki in Pakistan organised by another banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Jihad Akbar is supposed to be non-violent, while Jihad Asghar is supposed to be the war by the sword.

Azhar said it was a conspiracy against Islam to say that 'jihad' was not killing.

Another supporter of militant groups in Pakistan, Justice (Retired) Javid Iqbal said at a seminar in Lahore that Pakistan and the Islamic world should declare that suicide bombing against the West was actually 'jihad'.

It was United States that was doing terrorism and not the suicide bombers of various organisations, he was quoted by the daily 'Jung' as saying.

PTI