Maleeha dismisses impending danger of clash of civilisations

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said bridging enormous gulf between the West and the Muslims was a real challenge but dismissed an impending danger of clash of civilisations.
"Muslims living across the West have a great responsibility in this regard and they should project the true and moderate image of Islam. But the Western powers too, should realise the causes of extremism," she said while speaking at the first anniversary of Shiraz Mirza Community Hall in Kingston upon Themes here late on Saturday.
Mayor of Kingston Councillor Ed Naylor, Councillor Shiraz Mirza and others were present on the occasion.
Maleeha said Pakistan was in the front lines of fighting global terrorism and President Musharraf had spelled out two-pronged strategy to deal with that challenge.
"One was that Muslims countries should reform themselves and second was that the West should help resolve political disputes in the Muslim world and assist them in achieving socio-economic development."
"The majority of Pakistanis, she said, are moderate, progressive and forward looking," she said.
She said the country had progressed towards a functioning democracy while its economy was on way to a high growth as well as distributive justice. With its 6 percent growth this year concomitant with a record level exports and remittances, the country was poised to become one of the fastest growing economies in Asia.
On Pakistan-India relations, she said "if peace process is to succeed, the aspirations of the Kashmiri people must be met."
"Pakistan is ready, able and willing to go the extra mile for peace" she said adding the two countries stood "at the cusp of peace in a region in which one fifth of humanity resides."
But that required a just settlement of the Kashmir issue, she said.
Referring to the presence of 8000,000 overseas Pakistani expatriates she said, they were the source of fortifying Pakistan relations with Britain. Besides playing a constructive role in British society, they had made their mark in various fields of life and people like Tarique Ghaffur Assistant Commissioner in Metropolitan Police and Shiraz Mirza were the role models for the community.