ISNA Moot Ends: Muslim Americans urged to cast their votes
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk Report

WASHINGTON (US): Ten top Muslim American organizations Sunday evening set up 'The American Muslim Taskforce (AMT)', but declined to make an endorsement for a single candidate in the U.S. presidential elections, appealing to the community to unite, register to vote, and fully participate in the November polls.

The leaders of these bodies held closed door meetings for past three days, adopted and announced a resolution in this regard at the conclusion of the third day's proceedings, in Rosemont, Illinois.

"We deliberated at length, but did not decide to endorse any single candidate, though sentiment for change was overwhelming," the AMT leaders stated.

The proceedings of the four-day 41st annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a non-partisan body, concluded in Rosemont, Chicago. Around 40,000 attended the different sessions, in which panelists deliberated on various topics. The general theme for the conference was: 'Dialogue, Devotion and Development.'

The ten organizations are: AMA, CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MENA, MAS, MPAC, MSA National, Islamic Hope and UMA. The previous task force of the Muslim Americans had endorsed George Bush in the 2000 elections, which decision was, however, opposed by the African-Americans, who vote for Democrats.

Agha Saeed, head of the task force in a plea to John Kerry said: "Please improve your position, only then can we talk to you." In his remarks at the end of the overnight's ISNA meeting, Agha Saeed, and others complained that high-level Kerry staff "have been slow to reach out to Muslim leaders."

Editor 'Minaret Magazine,' Aslam Abdullah, "It is not a matter whether Bush meets with Muslims or whether Kerry meets with Muslims. The question is who is more capable of steering the country out." Aslam Abdullah it was not time for "a narrow thinking."

According to an estimate, around 40,000 American Muslims attended the proceedings of the four-day 41st annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a nonpartisan body. Stressing the need for voter turn out, the annual meeting  appealed the community to vote in the November elections, as "a sacred trust." "We have to stand up to this government and say, What you're doing is wrong," Mahdi Bray, chief of the Muslim American Society  Freedom Foundation said in a comment.

Several speakers said John Kerry had become "too timid on civil rights issues." According to them, Sen. Kerry's pledge on repealing  parts of the USA Patriot Act- which gave the government broad new powers to monitor citizens- "did not go far enough."

Some Muslim leaders commented that Kerry campaign "has missed opportunities to capitalize on Muslim resentment of the president." There was an over-riding sentiment against the war on terror, which the speakers viewed was discriminatory. They stressed the urgent need to register political presence in America.

They said, the American Muslims hold special importance this election year because they have strong communities in battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio and Florida. Also, immigrant Muslims are educated professionals.

Ralph Nader has been appealing them, for he supports causes espoused by Muslim Americans, such as Palestine, Iraq, etc. For year 2000 endorsement of Bush over Al Gore, the Muslim leaders later described as a "mistake" in the aftermath of September 11,2001, and anti-terror policies.

About a year ago, the Bush administration had increased contacts with Muslim leaders, inviting them for briefings with the Department of Justice and the White House faith-based office, among other gestures, according to Salam al-Marayati, head of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The speakers included Muhammad Nur Abdullah, Dawud Warnsby, Farooq Kathwari, Zaid Shakir, Altaf Husain, Nada Unus, Shazia Siddiqi, Amir Al-Islam, Abdul Hakim Murad (T.J. Winters), Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Mokhtar Maghraoui, Shugufta Yasmeen, Habibe Husain,Rami Nashishibi, Thomas Simons Jr., Ingrid Mattson, Hamza Yusuf, Suhaib Webb, Abdalla Idris Ali, Abdul Rashied Omar, Feisal M. Abdur Rauf, Ekram Beshir, Suhaib Webb, Kenya Numan, Ihsan Bagby, Suhail Ghannouchi, Hadia Mubarak, Salam Al-Maryati, Omar Ahmad and Agha Saeed.

Moderator were Azhar Azeez, Louay Safi, Ingrid Mattson, Syed Imtiaz Ahmad, Kamran Memon and Kareem Irfan.●