The use of the term ‘Islamo-fascism’ to denounce some elements is unacceptable and counter-productive to defeating terrorism, Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Thursday. He was speaking at a seminar on the ‘Alliance of Civilisations: Role of Europe and Asia’, organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) and the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Mushahid said the targeting of Muslims on the basis of religion would affect efforts to achieve a tolerant world. He appealed to the civil society and leaders of Europe and Asia to work for promoting the idea of an ‘alliance of civilizations’.
“The idea of the ‘clash of civilization’, projected by Harvard University, should be neutralised with that of an ‘alliance of civilization’,” he said. Extremism and terrorism can only be defeated by democratic systems and the resolution of political and economic problems, particularly in Muslim countries, he said.
He said worldwide rallies against the Iraq war had proved that there was no clash of civilisations and the people were against the use of force to tackle issues. He said the world should make sincere efforts to root out terrorism in a peaceful manner instead of creating rifts. He said the European Union (EU) should give membership to Turkey to set an example of reconciliation and to counter the blame that the EU was only a ‘Christian Club’. He said dialogue should continue among governments, civil society and civilisations to develop interfaith harmony. |