JEDDAH, 12 September 2004 — The Shoura Council has prepared a strategy to fight terrorism as its members met with top government officials and leading advocates of takfir (branding opponents as infidels) and those jailed for issuing provocative statements.
Dr. Hamoud Al-Badr, secretary-general of the 120-member body, said some members of the committee for tackling terrorism held talks with three advocates of takfir who are now in Riyadh’s Al-Hair prison.
“The Shoura members also met with the prisoners involved in terrorist attacks,” he said, adding that these meetings were held as part of the council’s efforts to work out a comprehensive strategy to root out violence and terrorism from the country.
Al-Badr said the Shoura has already formulated the draft strategy and presented it to top authorities. The strategy was evolved on the basis of the “important clarifications” made by Interior Minister Prince Naif during his meeting with the panel members.
“The panel has realized the reasons for the spread of terrorism in the Kingdom from the statements of officials and suspects involved in terrorist attacks,” Okaz Arabic daily quoted Al-Badr as saying.
Saudi Arabia has launched a major campaign to crush terrorism. Security forces have repeatedly clashed with suspected Al-Qaeda extremists blamed for a wave of violence in the Kingdom, which began in May 2003.
Crown Prince Abdullah has vowed to pursue the terrorists until they are wiped out. He said the Kingdom had dealt a very damaging blow to the terrorist “masterminds” and was now pursuing the last of the suspected militants.
“We directly targeted the heads of the snakes in order to cut them off. Many were killed, some were arrested and the rest surrendered,” the crown prince said in a recent press statement.
“We are past the stage of terrorism. What you are seeing today is the liquidation of the last pockets and the hunting for the remaining (terrorists),” he explained.
