Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Dr Maleeha Lodhi has urged the West to help Muslim world address poverty and create a more fairer- secure world by giving it access to its markets. "Security cannot be attained when economic and social stagnation and inequality threatens national, regional and global peace," she said while giving a lecture on "Islam and the West Pakistan's Perspective" which was organised by the Ismaili Centre on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi (SAW) here late Tuesday.
Her lecture was followed by an interesting question-answer session attended by a large number of the Ismaili community members and President of the Centre Zauhar Meghji.
She said according to a World Bank (WB) estimate a deal to open up rich western countries markets to poor nations could extricate up to 144 million from poverty by 2015. For instance one billion dollars export from Pakistan can create 300,000 jobs and can support 1.5 million people which gives an inkling how giving access to the Western markets can help these countries in their efforts to alleviate poverty.
During her lecture she detailed different perceptions both in the Muslim world and the West about each other while emphasising the need to work out a strategy to create mutual understanding, dialogue, accommodation and harmony. These issues require co-operation rather than confrontation, she said adding the West should start engaging with Islam.
"This must start with the acknowledgement that Muslim values do not pose a threat to the core values of Western society," she said.
Maleeha said the West could contribute in process of reforms of the Muslim countries by helping them address its problems like unemployment and ignorance.
The West can increase its official development assistance especially in the social sectors and can make direct investment in these countries. It can also give them larger and preferential trade access, she added.
These reforms in Muslim world, she said, must be accompanied by concrete changes in the conduct of foreign policies of the key Western countries. This will need concrete steps to resolve the situations where Muslims are being unjustly suppressed like in Palestine and Kashmir.
For example Muslims feel that the right to self-determination, considered an inviolable right for others, is being ignored in case of Palestine and Kashmir. She said concerns of the Muslim world need to be addressed to win its hearts and minds and strengthen the moderates.
Without addressing the root causes, the war against terrorism cannot and will not succeed, she added. The envoy reiterated that terrorist acts were against Islamic injunctions because Islam equated killing of one innocent person with killing of the entire humanity.
She told a questioner there was no conflict in being a Muslim and a modern person because Islam was a contemporary religion. That was the reason it was one of the most growing religions in the world.
She said no country could progress until women were made equal partners in its development. Pakistan has moved forward in this direction in a big way by empowering women.
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