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No world peace without settlement of Islamic countries disputes: Musharraf
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: President General Pervez Musharraf Thursday said that the international system and peace could not be restored without settlement of the problems and disputes of the Islamic countries. 

Addressing the OIC summit at Putrajaya Musharraf suggested constitution of a commission comprising of prominent leaders of the OIC from Africa, Arab and Asian countries. The commission sould adopt a strategy to face challenges of the 21st century, he said. 

President said that the world system and peace could not restore without solution of the Islamic countries problems and disputes. He also suggested establishment of the Islamic Development Fund. 

Musharraf also suggested calling an extraordinary OIC summit for implementation of the suggestions. 

 

Putin makes surprise speech at Islamic summit

PUTRAJAYA: Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise appearance as a speaker at the opening session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) here Thursday.

 

He won warm applause from the leaders of the Islamic world when he said through an interpreter that terrorism should not be equated to any religion. While always slated to attend as an observer, he was not on the list of speakers for the summit, which is the biggest Islamic conference since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

 

"The position of Russia is constant and clear. Terrorism must not be equated to any religion, culture, tradition, or any way of life," Putin said. He went on to say that "Russian Muslims are an inalienable part of Russia".  

 

"The position of Russia is constant and clear. Terrorism must not be equated to any religion, culture, tradition, or any way of life," Putin said. He went on to say that "Russian Muslims are an inalienable part of Russia".

Russia is home to some 20 million Muslims -- around one inhabitant in seven. Like other religions, Islam saw a surge in membership after the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

However Russia has garnered much criticism from the Muslim world over its brutal war against separatist rebels in the mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya. Putin said there were now more than 7,000 mosques in Russia compared to about 700 in 1991.

Russia and the Islamic countries could have a "mutually advantageous cooperation," he said, pointing out that both want a central United Nations role for settling international problems -- an apparent reference to their joint opposition to the US-led war on Iraq. Among the more than 30 other leaders present at the summit are the presidents of Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Algeria and Sudan.

 

India could not be given status as an observer in OIC: Musharraf

PUTRAJAYA: President General Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that India could not be given the status as an observer in the OIC.

 

He said this while talking to journalists on the occasion of his participation in the Islamic summit being held in Malaysia. He said that the Kashmir issue would be included in the OIC resolution.

Kuwait backs Iraq's request to scrap Islamic draft resolution

PUTRAJAYA: Kuwait voiced Thursday support for the US-backed Iraqi leadership's request to scrap a draft resolution at the Islamic summit which demands a timetable for the end of the occupation.

 

"We think that the Iraqis, represented by the Governing Council, should be left to decide,"  Kuwait Oil Minister Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah told reports on the sidelines of the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia.

 

 

He said the Iraqis objected to the draft because it demanded that the UN Security Council sets a timetable for the withdrawal of the US-led coalition that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in April.


"There are no differences on the essence, but the difference is on the mechanism and stages that should lead to a transfer of power to the Iraqi people," he said.

               

 Earlier, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said the Iraqi side had requested that the resolution be replaced by a general statement from the summit or the Malaysian presidency of the OIC.               


Kofi Annan warns against rising hostility between Islam, West

PUTRAJAYA: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Thursday of rising hostility between Islam and the West, describing it as "ugly, dangerous and wrong".

 

In a statement to the opening of a summit of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Annan said western governments must address the grievances of Muslims, while Islamic states needed to make greater efforts to overcome their problems.

 

He said he hoped to see Christians and Muslims reconciling in Sudan and perhaps Cyprus. "Yet there is, in too many places, a feeling of rising hostility between Islam and the West. This is ugly, dangerous and wrong," he said.

 

"We must unite our efforts to address the extremism that is, alas, on the rise, not only in Islam but among many faiths," said Annan, who withdrew from the summit due to the Iraq issue being brought back to the UN Security Council.

 

He said western governments must match their rhetoric of respect for human freedom with action to promote development, including a fair world trading system. But he told the Muslim leaders -- who represent 1.3 billion people -- they also had to play their part.

 

Muslims are dismayed by the apparent inability of Islamic states to do much about problems such as weak state systems, a lack of democracy and weak human rights, especially for women, he said. 

Emir of Qatar backs war against terror  
PUTRAJAYA: Islamic countries support the war against terror but reject attempts to link terrorism with their religion, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told a summit of Muslim leaders Thursday.  

"We support all efforts to annihilate this phenomenon but at the same time reject all double standards and attempts to associate it with (the Islamic) religion," he said at the opening of a two-day summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) here.

 

The Emir, in a speech handing over the chairmanship of the 57-member OIC to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, also said the summit must show solidarity with the people of Iraq, following the country's occupation by US-led forces after the ousting of Saddam Hussein's regime.

 

"The people of Iraq are facing catastrophes and challenges that they cannot face on their own and require us to show solidarity with them so they can end the crisis and govern by themselves."


World's 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be wiped out: Mahathir tells summit
PUTRAJAYA: Jews rule the world, getting others to fight and die for them, but will not be able to defeat the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a major Islamic conference Thursday.

 

"We are actually very strong, 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them," Mahathir said.

 

The veteran Malaysian leader, who has become notorious for his controversial speeches during his 22 years as leader of this this moderate Muslim country, was speaking at the opening session of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit.

 

He called on Muslims to emulate the Jewish response to oppression, saying the Jews had "survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. "We cannot fight them through brawn alone, we must use our brains also," he said.

"Of late, because of their power and their apparent success they have become arrogant. And arrogant people like angry people will make mistakes, will forget to think. "They are already beginning to make mistakes. And they will make more mistakes. There may be windows of opportunity for us now and in the future. We must seize these opportunities."

Among the more than 30 Muslim leaders present for the summit are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the president of the world's largest Muslim country Indonesia.

 

King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Mohamed VI of Morocco, and the presidents of Iran, Turkey, Algeria, and Sudan are also at the meeting. Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines are attending as observers.

Iraq requests Islamic draft resolution scrapped: Egypt
PUTRAJAYA: The US-backed Iraqi leadership has requested the withdrawal of a draft resolution at the Islamic summit which demands a timetable for the end of the occupation of Iraq, an Egyptian minister said Thursday.

"The Iraqi side has said it prefers that no resolution is adopted," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, before the opening of the two-day summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia.

He added that the delegation of the Iraqi transitional Governing Council requested that "a statement from the summit or from the presidency" of the OIC replace the planned resolution. Such a statement was likely to be adopted, he said.

Summit focussing on Palestine, Mid East and Iraq issues
PUTRAJAYA: The world's Islamic leaders Thursday opened their biggest summit meeting since the September 11 attacks on the United States, with turmoil in Iraq and the Middle East topping their agenda.

The Organsiation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) leaders -- representing 57 Muslim nations and 1.3 billion people -- met under a heavy veil of security in Malaysia's new administrative capital Putrajaya, near Kuala Lumpur.

 

The two-day summit is focussing on the Palestinian conflict, amid increasing violence in the Middle East, and attempts to restore stability in Iraq following the US-led invasion that which ousted Saddam Hussein's regime.

 

With world attention on Islamic terrorism following the 2001 attacks against the US and the Bali bombings a year later, the OIC is meeting in an atmosphere of near crisis.  OIC secretary general Abdelouahed Belkeziz said Wednesday the Islamic world is facing "grave perils that threaten its countries, civilization, faith and the fundamental elements of its way of life".

 

The OIC's position on Iraq has become a contentious issue, with the country's US-appointed Governing Council taking issue with the OIC's draft resolution calling for a firm timetable for the withdrawal of US-led occupation forces and a central role for the United Nations.

 

The Governing Council's leader, Ayad Allawi, is attending the summit, while another member-state invaded by US-led forces since the last meeting in 2000 -- Afghanistan -- is represented by President Hamid Karzai. Among other leaders present are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Pakistani  President Pervez Musharraf, Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the president of the world's largest Muslim country Indonesia.

 

King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Mohamed VI of Morocco, and the presidents of Iran, Turkey, Algeria, and Sudan are also among the more than 30 heads of state or government at the meeting. Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Gloria Arroyo of the  Philippines are attending as observers.

World's Islamic leaders open their biggest summit

PUTRAJAYA: The world's Islamic leaders opened their biggest summit meeting since the

September 11 attacks on the United States, grappling with turmoil in Iraq and the Middle East and a sense that Muslims are under siege.

Muslim leaders gather in Malaysia for summit
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: Muslim leaders gathered on Wednesday in this designer-city of domes and spires for a summit, opening Thursday in the shadow of a war on terrorism, which many see as a war on Islam. With Islamic countries under foreign occupation or threat and Muslims treated with suspicion in the West, the kings, sheikhs, princes and presidents of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) are confronting a turning point in history. The summit will be the biggest meeting of Islamic leaders since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Musharraf urges OIC states to reform, industrialise
Says Muslims must choose between confrontation and economic growth; following 9/11 attacks growing anger, feeling of deprivation among Muslim societies fuelling extremism and militancy

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: The Muslim world must make its economic policies more market-friendly if it wanted to overcome economic deprivation, President Pervez Musharraf said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a business forum ahead of an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit, Musharraf said, following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, growing anger and a feeling of deprivation among the Muslim societies were fuelling extremism and militancy, and this further diverted resources from economic development. Income levels, growth rates, human and technological development are "disappointingly low" in the Muslim world, widening the gap further with western nations, he said.

Musharraf said the Islamic world must choose between extremism and economic growth to solve its many problems. "We stand at the crossroads of our future destiny," he said, adding: "We have to decide whether militancy, extremism and confrontation will lead us to our emancipation, or a focus on our socio-economic well-being will benefit us."

"Politically we find ourselves at the centre of most conflicts and disputes," said Musharraf. He added on one side, attempts at resolution of disputes are not making much headway — whatever the reasons — while, on the other side, an anger at being wronged (that is) leading to frustration, hopelessness, deprivation and a sense of powerlessness is rising in Muslim society." This is fuelling hatred, extremism and militancy, and diverting Muslim governments’ energy from economic development, he said.

Musharraf said OIC countries must undertake reform at home in areas such as currency controls, corporate governance and the judiciary to become more attractive to foreign investors. He also proposed that the OIC appoint a team of top business leaders from member countries to advise the organisation on a development plan, which would be presented at a special OIC economic summit.

He said the OIC has failed to convert (its members’) abundant human and physical resources into economic achievement. "The GDP of the entire Ummah is roughly $1.4 trillion, while that of Japan alone is 4.5 trillion. The highest GDP of a Muslim country is 185 billion, while that of tiny European countries with no natural resources is above 200 billion," Musharraf noted.

The OIC attracted hardly $15 billion worth of foreign investment each year, compared to 50 billion in China alone, he said. Only six countries account for more than half of OIC income and 22 out of the world’s 49 least developed countries are in the OIC. "The starting point for achieving growth has to be the reform of our domestic economic policies. Unless our policies are market friendly and pro-business, it will be hard for us to promote intra-OIC trade or investment," he said.

"There is a huge potential for leveraging cultural affinities within the OIC to build robust brands. The success of Al-Jazeera and Mecca Cola are examples of penetrative effect of successful branding," Musharraf observed. "While large business group can afford to conduct due diligence and make intelligent trade and investment decisions, a concerted effort should be launched to assist medium-sized enterprises. We must support innovative firms in emerging industries," he said.

"The key ares of reform of domestic policies include foreign investment laws, tax and trade regimes, currency and exchange control systems, corporate governance, stock exchanges and the judiciary," Musharraf said, stressing the need for a joint economic and business team consisting of top officials and businessmen to speed up intra-OIC trade.

He urged the OIC to enhance cooperation with other regional economic groupings and proposed intra-OIC ventures in the areas of energy, agri-business, financial services, information and communication technology.