Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who has been a target of suicide attackers himself, has asked the religious parties to issue an edict against suicide bombings.

Why Muttahida Majlis-e Amal, an alliance of religious parties, was not issuing a 'fatwa' against suicide bombings, even though suicide is forbidden in Islam, Musharraf asked during an interactive programme on state-run PTV, excerpts of which were shown last night.

He also accused the religious parties of tacitly endorsing violence that was taking place in Pakistan in the name of religion.

"They endorse all these acts, incite people against me or taking action against terrorists and they have to check to call themselves the custodians of Islam in Pakistan," he was quoted as saying by local daily 'Pakistan Observer'.

Suicide bombers made unsuccessful bids against Musharraf twice last December and on Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz last month.

However, Musharraf, at the same time, declined to fully support the allegations by Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat that Jamat Islami (JI), a partner of MMA, harboured a number of al-Qaeda militants who were caught in Pakistan.

He said in some instances foreign militants had been captured from JI activists' houses, but it was not clear whether the activists harboured them at the instance of JI or on their own.