Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said the international community's commitment to fight terror, should be matched by its resolve to remove the root causes of terrorism.
If the global community wants to be tough on terrorism, it must also be tough in its efforts to address the causes of terrorism, she said while speaking on the subject of women in the Muslim world, organised by Liberal International Club of Liberal Democrats at Whitehall Place here late Monday.
Chairman of Liberal International Robert Woodthorpe Browne and its elected Executive Councillor Qasim Afzal, Lord Russeel-Johnston, visiting Canadian Senator B. A. Graham and others were present on the occasion.
Maleeha said the government has already introduced reforms to bring religious schools into the mainstream.
These were being registered and modern subjects were being included in their curricula.
The idea of "Enlightened Moderation" as propounded by President Pervez Musharraf had set out a two-pronged approach to confront the current challenges being faced by the world. Calling for rejection of militancy he had urged the Muslim world to seek emancipation through knowledge.
Second, the President had called on the West to help the Muslims world resolve political disputes like Palestine and Kashmir which continue to fester.
Pakistan had embarked on wide-ranging economic and political measures to reforms its politics and economy.
It has been successful in achieving macro economic stability. The challenge now was to promote local and foreign direct investment.
She referred to the establishment of the National Commission for Human Development with the aim of providing basic educational and health facilities to people through community involvement and mobilisation.
She said, Pakistan was following a policy of peace within and peace without. Peace moves have been initiated to find a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue.
She hoped the peace process would gather more steam after general elections in India.
President Pervez Musharraf, she said, had spelled out a four-point approach to address the long-standing issue of occupied Kashmir.
He had proposed that the two sides should first accept the centrality of the Kashmir dispute. Two, they should identify what is completely unacceptable to the other side. Third consider other proposals left on the table.
The final stage was to find and search for a peaceful solution that was acceptable to Pakistan, to India and above all the Kashmiri people.
She said this was "a reasonable and constructive approach" put forward by President Musharraf.
Maleeha who gave Pakistani perspective on women's rights said, it was a misinformed and distorted view of the West that women in Muslim countries were oppressed and backward.
Comments
Comments are closed.