DOHA, 12 October — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said here on Wednesday night that terrorism is harming the Muslim world and is detrimental to the just Islamic cause.
In a press statement following the ninth session of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Prince Saud added that “terrorism has never helped the Palestinian cause.”
He said the condemnation of the terrorist acts by OIC’s foreign ministers proved the seriousness of the Muslim world in combating terrorism and challenging the wrong notion held by some people that terrorism served the Muslim cause.
“This notion has been proved incorrect. On the contrary, the terrorist acts divert attention from our main battles to make them ineffective and this is what the terrorist acts aim at. It only helps to put off achieving the goals and aspirations of the Muslim world,” the prince said.
The prince also noted that the conference emphasized the need to remove the reasons that lead to terrorism.
“It is important to acknowledge the causes of terrorism and eliminate them,” he said.
Terrorism is being wiped out from Muslim countries and the Muslim lands are not a haven for terrorism, he stressed.
The prince also urged the international community to look for the terrorism dens outside the Muslim world, stressing the Muslim countries’ willingness to make every possible effort to combat terrorism.
The prince assured that the uncompromising stand taken by the Muslim world toward terrorism heralded an end to an era burdened with conflict. This stand will eliminate terrorism from all countries in the world, he added.
A communique issued at the end of the meeting said member countries representing the 1.2 billion Muslim condemned the Sept. 11 suicide attacks on the United States.
“The conference also expressed its concern that confronting terrorism could lead to casualties among innocent civilians in Afghanistan and asserted the importance of assuring the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and its Islamic character,” it added.
Earlier, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al-Thani, called for a united stance on terrorism. Speaking on behalf of the ministers present, Sheikh Hamad also stressed the “need to provide concrete proof of the blame of presumed perpetrators.” (SPA)
