alkathiri
As-Shafaa'i(Brother)
ISLAMABAD, 16 May 2007 — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday opened the 34th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) at the majestic Jinnah Convention Center in the sprawling Pakistani capital and proposed the creation of a Muslim peacekeeping force to help stabilize Iraq.
“The mass killings that are taking place there have to end,” said a jaded and very tired-looking Musharraf. “All outside interference should stop immediately,” he said. “And if all the warring factions in Iraq accept, then maybe a peacekeeping force from Muslim countries grouped under the United Nations could be looked at as a possible solution,” he said. “There can be no two opinions that a political solution is a dire necessity now.”
Interestingly, the suggestion for a Muslim peacekeeping force came right at the end of his hour long opening address in which he touched upon a host of issues including Pakistan’s peace talks with India, the situation in Palestine, terrorism, the lack of education among Muslims and what he called the rise of obscurantism in the Muslim world. The suggestion of a Muslim peacekeeping force seemed almost like an afterthought. Musharraf spoke extempore with little or no help from prepared notes that he would glance at occasionally.
Musharraf said the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) must revamp itself to prevent the downward slide of the Muslim world. “We must face the fact that the disparity with the Western world is increasing,” he said. “The Islamic world unfortunately is moving retrogressively. We have to arrest this tide.”
He said Pakistan and India finally realized that there was no military solution to the conflicts between them. “The relations between the two of us were never as good as they are now,” he said. “Both the countries decided to fall back and to give peace a chance. A little swallowing of egos can do wonders, can help a lot. We are building on the trust that we have created between ourselves.”
Musharraf repeated his favorite mantra of “enlightened moderation” and said that the OIC must work to clear misperceptions of Islam. “The world sees Islam as militant and intolerant,” an image that he said, “is being reinforced by our own obscurantist, extremist forces.”
Minutes after he finished his opening address, a man blew himself up in the northwestern city of Peshwar killing many. Televisions news channels at the convention’s media lounge beamed live images of the carnage from Peshawar reminding the visitors to the capital of the political upheaval that is taking place in Pakistan. Musharraf is facing a tough challenge from his energized and well-organized pro-democracy political opponents.
Addressing the opening session, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the Muslim world was facing a defining moment in history. “Even as we speak we realize that the major problems afflicting Muslims show no sign of solution.”
He appealed to the Palestinian factions to stop infighting. “I would like to appeal from this rostrum to the highest Palestinian authorities to put an urgent end to the infighting which has erupted in the last few days...I request them to maintain unity that will help them in their common struggle to get rid of the occupation.”
Referring to the Ten-Year Plan of Action that was scripted at the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Makkah in December 2005, Ihsanoglu said it would empower the Muslim world to turn the challenges it is facing into a golden opportunity. “We should seize this moment and define our own destiny rather than leaving it to others to define it according to their crooked agenda.”
As per the Makkah program, the OIC chief pointed out the overhauling of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA). “It has been turned into a supreme international Islamic authority in religious matters. In its new capacity, it is rendering crucial services to Islam and the Muslim world, notably by regulating the proliferation of fatwas,” he said.
He said the new OIC charter that is the focus of deliberations in Islamabad was reviewed extensively by some of the leading lights of the Muslim world. They included former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, former OIC Secretary-General Hamid Algabid, former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jamil Al-Hujailan, former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, and former UNESCO Director-General Moktar Mbow.
Ihsanoglu said the amended text of the charter was submitted to a committee of prominent legal Muslim experts commissioned for a legal review. “This committee carried out a study of the draft from the legal perspective and finalized the text of the new revised charter.”
The secretary-general talked about the OIC Observatory on Islamophobia at the General Secretariat, which is tasked with monitoring and documenting any activity propagating hatred, discrimination and intolerance against Muslims around the world. “We reacted promptly to the blasphemous caricatures published in a Danish newspaper and put this issue on the agenda of the international community including particularly the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN General Assembly in New York and UNESCO in Paris,” he said, adding that through close coordination with the OIC groups in the world bodies, “we succeeded in obtaining from the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council resolutions providing for the respect of religions with particular reference to Islam.”
Talking about the Kashmir issue, the secretary-general supported and encouraged the initiatives of rapprochement between India and Pakistan. “We recently dispatched a special mission to Kashmir, which met with the president, prime minister and senior leaders of Azad Kashmir. The mission reaffirmed the calls of the OIC and the Muslim world on the need to implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Kashmir as well as expediting the search of a final solution to this problem.”
In the field of information and media, he said the OIC dedicated a substantial part of its efforts in promoting the true image of Islam, defending Muslims in the face of the hate campaigns waged against Islam. “We have seized all available opportunities and used all media platforms available to us to rebuff the negative stereotypes of the Western media, and to foil attempts to confuse Islam with terrorism,” he added.
“The mass killings that are taking place there have to end,” said a jaded and very tired-looking Musharraf. “All outside interference should stop immediately,” he said. “And if all the warring factions in Iraq accept, then maybe a peacekeeping force from Muslim countries grouped under the United Nations could be looked at as a possible solution,” he said. “There can be no two opinions that a political solution is a dire necessity now.”
Interestingly, the suggestion for a Muslim peacekeeping force came right at the end of his hour long opening address in which he touched upon a host of issues including Pakistan’s peace talks with India, the situation in Palestine, terrorism, the lack of education among Muslims and what he called the rise of obscurantism in the Muslim world. The suggestion of a Muslim peacekeeping force seemed almost like an afterthought. Musharraf spoke extempore with little or no help from prepared notes that he would glance at occasionally.
Musharraf said the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) must revamp itself to prevent the downward slide of the Muslim world. “We must face the fact that the disparity with the Western world is increasing,” he said. “The Islamic world unfortunately is moving retrogressively. We have to arrest this tide.”
He said Pakistan and India finally realized that there was no military solution to the conflicts between them. “The relations between the two of us were never as good as they are now,” he said. “Both the countries decided to fall back and to give peace a chance. A little swallowing of egos can do wonders, can help a lot. We are building on the trust that we have created between ourselves.”
Musharraf repeated his favorite mantra of “enlightened moderation” and said that the OIC must work to clear misperceptions of Islam. “The world sees Islam as militant and intolerant,” an image that he said, “is being reinforced by our own obscurantist, extremist forces.”
Minutes after he finished his opening address, a man blew himself up in the northwestern city of Peshwar killing many. Televisions news channels at the convention’s media lounge beamed live images of the carnage from Peshawar reminding the visitors to the capital of the political upheaval that is taking place in Pakistan. Musharraf is facing a tough challenge from his energized and well-organized pro-democracy political opponents.
Addressing the opening session, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the Muslim world was facing a defining moment in history. “Even as we speak we realize that the major problems afflicting Muslims show no sign of solution.”
He appealed to the Palestinian factions to stop infighting. “I would like to appeal from this rostrum to the highest Palestinian authorities to put an urgent end to the infighting which has erupted in the last few days...I request them to maintain unity that will help them in their common struggle to get rid of the occupation.”
Referring to the Ten-Year Plan of Action that was scripted at the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Makkah in December 2005, Ihsanoglu said it would empower the Muslim world to turn the challenges it is facing into a golden opportunity. “We should seize this moment and define our own destiny rather than leaving it to others to define it according to their crooked agenda.”
As per the Makkah program, the OIC chief pointed out the overhauling of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA). “It has been turned into a supreme international Islamic authority in religious matters. In its new capacity, it is rendering crucial services to Islam and the Muslim world, notably by regulating the proliferation of fatwas,” he said.
He said the new OIC charter that is the focus of deliberations in Islamabad was reviewed extensively by some of the leading lights of the Muslim world. They included former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, former OIC Secretary-General Hamid Algabid, former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jamil Al-Hujailan, former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, and former UNESCO Director-General Moktar Mbow.
Ihsanoglu said the amended text of the charter was submitted to a committee of prominent legal Muslim experts commissioned for a legal review. “This committee carried out a study of the draft from the legal perspective and finalized the text of the new revised charter.”
The secretary-general talked about the OIC Observatory on Islamophobia at the General Secretariat, which is tasked with monitoring and documenting any activity propagating hatred, discrimination and intolerance against Muslims around the world. “We reacted promptly to the blasphemous caricatures published in a Danish newspaper and put this issue on the agenda of the international community including particularly the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN General Assembly in New York and UNESCO in Paris,” he said, adding that through close coordination with the OIC groups in the world bodies, “we succeeded in obtaining from the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council resolutions providing for the respect of religions with particular reference to Islam.”
Talking about the Kashmir issue, the secretary-general supported and encouraged the initiatives of rapprochement between India and Pakistan. “We recently dispatched a special mission to Kashmir, which met with the president, prime minister and senior leaders of Azad Kashmir. The mission reaffirmed the calls of the OIC and the Muslim world on the need to implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Kashmir as well as expediting the search of a final solution to this problem.”
In the field of information and media, he said the OIC dedicated a substantial part of its efforts in promoting the true image of Islam, defending Muslims in the face of the hate campaigns waged against Islam. “We have seized all available opportunities and used all media platforms available to us to rebuff the negative stereotypes of the Western media, and to foil attempts to confuse Islam with terrorism,” he added.