Thursday, December 8 2005 09:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Raising the Kashmir issue at the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday (Dec 7,2005) said, "Failure to resolve Kashmir and Palestine issues led to desperation, confusion and extremism" and asked Islamic countries to ban extremist groups.

Addressing an extraordinary summit of the OIC in Mecca, Musharraf said, "Our differences and divisions are exploited. Our failure to secure just resolution of disputes such as Palestine and Kashmir has spawned desperation, confusion and extremism".

"We must condemn and reject all forces of terrorism and extremism, by banning organizations which preach hate and violence. We must promote the Islamic values of tolerance and moderation," Pakistan's official sources quoted him a saying.

Musharraf said senseless acts of terrorism committed by a 'handful of misguided individuals' in the name of Islam maligned the 'noble faith of peace, tolerance and compassion.'

"We need to look within; we need to search our soul," he said.

He said the Islamic world had options of either to follow a confrontationist course or a conciliatory one to move forward in the comity of nations.

The confrontationist course can only lead to further destruction and deprivation and exhorted the need to adopt a conciliatory approach for the well being of future generations, the Pakistan President said.

"From this holy city of peace and tolerance, I appeal to all extremists in our society to see reason and shun the path of violence, which offers no salvation and will only lead to more pain and more misery," he said.

Musharraf asked the Islamic world to seek knowledge from Quranic Injunctions and respect human rights.

"We should promote full respect of human rights as enjoyed by Islam, specially the rights of women and children," he said.

"The answer is crystal clear; we have to break out from this stagnation of centuries," he said.

He said most Islamic societies were struggling to evolve stable institutions for governance and remained far removed from the expanding frontiers of knowledge, education, science and technology.

"Our economies remain fragile and mostly dependent on raw material production. Even the rich among us are consumers of the fruits of modernization and innovation of other advanced nations who are shaping the direction of progress and future of the world," he said.