Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri for redefining "Terrorism"

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, Chairman Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and a leading Pakistani politician has underlined the need for re-defining the word 'terrorism' to broaden its scope.

He was addressing the participants of a seminar on the theme of "Terrorism and World Peace" held in connection with Solidarity Day organised by the Social Welfare and Human Rights wing of PAT here on Thursday.

While condemning terrorism, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri suggested the formation of a world body under the UN to re-define its orbit, saying, state terrorism in any part of the world should also be considered an act of terrorism. He harshly criticised India and Israel for killing innocent people in their jurisdictions.

The PAT chairman made it clear to the world that Pakistan did not support the world community for economic gains, saying, we did so to honour our international commitments regarding the universal principles of justice, peace and humanity.

Giving arguments in support of government decision to side with the world against terrorism, The PAT chairman said that in case of our answer to the world community being a simple NO, Pakistan would have been isolated from the rest of world to the pleasure of India which wanted us to commit such a blunder. Now, he added, Indian efforts to isolate Pakistan have ended in smoke, as it (India) feels disturbed under the changed circumstances.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri was highly critical of the western media which, according to him, is portraying a misleading image of Islam by wrongly associating it with terrorism. The west should review its media policy otherwise we will have to reconsider our decision to side with the western world on the issue of terrorism, he warned.

He said that Islam is a Faith of peace and should not be linked with incidents of terrorism in any part of the world.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed his dissatisfaction over the performance of UN with regard to conflict resolution, saying, the international law should be re-defined to broaden the role of UN beyond peace keeping.

Secretary General PAT Anwar Hussain Alvi called for an end to internal terrorism emanating from sectarianism from within the country.

Additional Secretary General PAT, Ch. Muhammad Sharif, Chief Coordinator Malik Ghulam Mustafa, President PAT Punjab, Khalilur Rehman Chishti, Secretary Information Muhammad Nadeem Ch and journalist Saqlain Imam also addressed the seminar. Later, participants of the seminar took out a peaceful rally led by PAT chairman Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri.

Dr. Tahir ul Qadri took part in a live discussion on PTV yesterday (28/09/2001) and emphasised on the above points.

The Daily Nation Pakistan.