Attempts to Equate Islam with Terrorism must be Rejected: Pakistan PM
By Raza Mumtaz 'Pakistan Times' Executive Editor/UK Bureau Chief

LONDON (UK): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday said attempts to equate Islam with terrorism must be rejected, as Islam offers the message of humanity, egalitarianism, moderation, tolerance and coexistence. "There are perverse attempts to equate Islam with terrorism.

We must reject this travesty" he said in a video address at the opening of the 'Islam in the World Today' conference at Lancaster House, central London.

Prime Minister Aziz said terrorism has no religion, colour, race or country. "We should reject stigmatization and combat the increased phenomena of Islamophobia".

He said efforts to link terrorism with Islam reveal "ignorance or sinister motives and these attempts must be thwarted".

Prime Minister Aziz, stressing the importance of avoiding intellectual flawed characterizations, said, "terms like Islamists, terrorism, Islamic militants, Jehadist ideology and Jehadists are wrong and insensitive".

He said there was a need to develop a deeper understanding of extremism and terrorism as well as an acceptable phraseology that accurately captures the phenomena and does not single out any particular creed or community.

Prime Minister Aziz said Islam is today a widely misunderstood and misrepresented religion, and the true message of Islam of peace, tolerance and harmony is not fully appreciated.

"The actions of a few should not influence perceptions about Islam and Muslims, the majority of whom are peace loving, responsible citizens across the world", he added.

The Prime Minister said, in the prevalent environment the need for interfaith dialogue and inter-civilizational understanding was, therefore, self-evident.

"Unfortunately at the time when the world needs harmony some elements are busy sowing the seeds of disharmony", he said and added that it is "incumbent upon us to ensure that the pernicious theories of clash of civilizations and value systems do not become self-fulfilling prophecies".

Prime Minister Aziz said, these theories do not have any intellectual or historical basis, adding, "in the five thousand (5000) years of recorded history clash of interest provided the main impulse for conflict. Cultural differences did not form a battle line".

"Nevertheless these are very potent and dangerous ideas which must be countered proactively", he said. The Prime Minister, however, maintained that this burden could not be on Muslims alone. "This would have to be a common endeavor of the entire humanity".

He said, human aspirations and values are common across national and civilizational lines. Freedom is universally valued which if suppressed has serious consequences. "Promoting understanding and dialogue are, therefore, the need of the day", he added.

"Our agenda must encompass internal and international reforms particularly in the political, economic and social fields", he said.

Prime Minister Aziz said in Pakistan, President Musharraf and he himself have been in the forefront within and beyond the country to support moderation and tolerance instead of extremism.

"We believe that it is an essential issue of our times. To achieve this in an environment of freedom and rule of law is a challenge we all face in democratic societies", he added.

The Prime Minister stressing the importance of education reform said "We need to take a hard look at what is being taught to our youth. Hate and prejudice towards others should have no place in the nurturing of our coming generations.

Both the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds must focus on this need". In Pakistan, he said, "we are engaged in education reforms across the board. Our attention is particularly focused on mainstreaming the Madrassas which includes curriculum reform and introduction of subjects like science, mathematics and information technology".

The Prime Minister said as today's societies are poly-ethnic and multi-cultural, mainstreaming of minorities was of crucial importance. "Isolation and marginalization are the destructive forces that affect the unifying fiber of nations and societies".

"We must learn to celebrate the diversities in our societies. We must do all we can to integrate minorities in our national mainstream", he added.

The Prime Minister, however, maintained that the onus of mainstreaming should not be only on the minority groups but should equally be the responsibility of the majority.

"To defeat and fight terrorism and extremism we must comprehend its true nature and its causes which are invariably political. Some terrorism is local, some is global, the campaign against terrorism whether local or global will not succeed until we pursue a comprehensive and holistic approach combining military, security, political, economic, social and cultural actions", he added.

Prime Minister Aziz said, "Our ultimate goal should be to win the hearts and minds of the people".

He said, the roots of extremism and terrorism both local and global lie in the series of unresolved conflicts, in the ongoing suppression of people in deprivation and injustice, in the denial of rights of self-determination and in foreign occupation.

While there are certain commonalities every situation has different impulses, he said, adding that "at the heart of the violence and crisis in the Middle East lies the longstanding and unresolved issue of Palestine, aggravated by the situation in Iraq".

The Prime Minister said, the causes of violence and terrorism in Afghanistan are distinct shaped by the cold war strategy of enlisting Mujahideen and Madrassas in a campaign to roll back the Soviet invasion.

"In our region the denial of the right of self-determination has led to an armed struggle by the people of Kashmir. Notwithstanding certain acts of terrorism the movement itself is about the legitimate rights of the Kashmiri people", he added.

Prime Minister Aziz said, poverty, economic deprivation and a sense of marginalization are the other factors fostering extremism and violence. "Expansion of economic opportunities especially for the youth offers the best antidote to the lure of extremism".

"We in Pakistan have assiduously pursued the path of reform for poverty reduction, economic growth and development, political participation and empowerment of women as well as socially and economically marginalized groups," he added.

The Prime Minister in this respect referred to many new programmes like micro-finance, self-employment schemes, internship programmes as well as technical and vocational training to boost employment for our youth.

"We have especially focused on the underdeveloped regions vulnerable to the appeal of extremists. Initiatives like the reconstruction, opportunity zones and several other localized development programmes are being advanced with the assistance of friendly countries including Britain so that we can provide a better future for our people", he added.

Prime Minister Aziz said vigorous and broad based efforts are needed to encourage and promote inter-faith and inter-civilizational dialogue and harmony.

"This is by no means an easy task. It requires leadership, political will, a broader coalition of actors acting in good faith and a practically implementable strategy", he added.

The Prime Minister said people of goodwill in all faiths must come forward to build the bridges of understanding and cooperation as this is the calling of our times. "Such efforts should involve multiple segments of society including the media, think-tanks and academia".

He referred to a number of initiatives at the international level to promote understanding and dialogue amongst various faiths and civilizations including dialogue among civilizations, alliance of civilizations, enlightened moderation and interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace and said "all these laudable ideas should now transcend to practical cooperation and produce visible and concrete results".

The Prime Minister said there should be also institutional linkages between these various initiatives so they can all work in a cohesive and productive manner. "There should be more forums and discussions on civilizational dialogue emphasizing the values of pluralism, tolerance and coexistence", he added.

He said, Pakistan is ready to organize such activities in cooperation with the United Kingdom and other like-minded states. "We are already working on some of these ideas with the governments of Malaysia and Turkey as well as enabling the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to play a more proactive role".

Prime Minister Aziz said, consideration should also be given to the establishment of an International Centre for the Promotion of Understanding between the three Abrahamic faiths.

"Religious scholars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam should interact to identify and highlight the common ground between these three faiths for facilitating cooperation and building harmonious relationships".

He said, "Our efforts should not only be focused on preaching to acquire. We must also reach out to the sources of extremist thinking in various societies. This is an important area and will preclude the prospects of disaffection and misunderstanding".

The international community must also work together to help find durable and just solutions to disputes and conflicts such as in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Kashmir in order to end resorting to violence by the belligerent which provides the opportunities for extremism and terrorism, he added.

Prime Minister Aziz said, the sense of alienation and deprivation among people within both the developed and developing countries needs to be countered as well through joint efforts.

"Better education and employment opportunities, end of discrimination and prejudices, prevention of ethnic and racial profiling, improvement in socio-economic conditions are some of the measures that we need to implement".

He said, the developed economies can also help by assisting the developing countries to greater market access, investments and transfer of technology. "This will be critical in view of the direct linkage between development, economic growth and security".

The Prime Minister said, ensuring understanding and tolerance among and within different faiths and cultures was collective responsibility. "None of us are immune from the dangers of interfaith and inter-civilizational conflicts".

"The gulf is widening. Violence is increasing, dangers are escalating, we can not afford to wait and watch. We need to take action and we need to take action now", he maintained.

Prime Minister Aziz recalled the cold war era when the world was preoccupied with bipolar attentions and said but this has changed in today's interconnected world. "Now there is no longer a danger of confrontation between two super powers".

He, however, mentioned that today the sources of tension and possible confrontation are multiple. "Violence can erupt due to cultural, religious, ethnic, or sectarian fault lines. This is an explosive mix".

"Violence exists at varying degrees and has different causes in different parts of the world. The international environment is marked by increased tension and fragility of peace", he added.

The Prime Minister said, "as citizens of the world we have many responsibilities. We need to work together to build harmony, understanding and cooperation".

"We need to shun prejudices, we need to build a sense of caring and sharing, we need to create linkages and inter-dependencies so that we bequeath to our coming generations a world which is more peaceful, which is more prosperous and which will ensure that we live in peace, that we exploit our full potential and create a thinking which makes us all feel as global citizens concerned about each other, working with each other and sharing with each other whatever we know better", he added.

Prime Minister Aziz also thanked Prime Minister Blair for his efforts to build stronger relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

"We wish him well and for Chancellor Brown may I say that we look forward to working with you to build further on what has been achieved in the last decade," he added.●