TEHRAN – Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has warned the Muslim world thatthe emerging nexus between the United States, Israel and India is a majorthreat to the ummah.
According to a press release issued by the Senate secretariat on Wednesday,Mr Rabbani sounded the warning while addressing the 13th session of theParliamentary Union of Islamic Countries (PUIC) being held in Tehran.
He said that Pakistan strongly opposed the US attempt to alter the legaland historical status of Al Quds, adding that the move was a blatantviolation of international law and United Nations Security Council’sresolutions.
The co-sponsoring of the UN resolution on the Al Quds issue had brought USpressure on Pakistan and the Muslim world should realise that, the Senatechairman said.
“Today it is Pakistan and Iran, tomorrow it can be any other country. Wemust … rise above divisive conflicts be it sectarian, ideological orcommunal. I propose that the way forward lies in enhancement ofmulti-stratum cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, infrastructure,investment, education, health, science and technology, agriculture, energyand defence.”
He said that Pakistan had borne the brunt of the war on terror for overone-and-a-half decades. Thousands of Pakistanis military personnel as wellas civilians had lost their lives and almost as many had been maimed andwounded, he added.
Despite that, Mr Rabbani said, Pakistan would continue to play a proactiverole against this tide of extremism and anarchy.
He called for collective efforts to root out the menace of terrorism andsaid that the Muslim world must not let a handful of extremists andtransnational terrorists to malign Islam for their vested interests. Hestressed the need for promoting the true image and message of Islam as areligion of peace, tolerance and respect for human dignity, rights andfreedoms.
The Senate chairman said that being a forceful institutional voice of theMuslim world, the PUIC could play an important role (in this regard)through elected representatives of people.
He termed the PUIC a step forward for increased mutually-beneficialintegration within the Muslim world as it envisaged the “strengthening ofcontacts, cooperation and coordination between various Muslim countries’parliamentary, governmental and non-governmental organisations, with theaim of advancing common objectives”.