FNC Speaker addresses PUIC conference

Speaker of the UAE Federal National Council (FNC) Mohammed Ahmed Al Murr regretted that political tensions, inter-fightings within one state, conflicts between states, and economic and social crises were inflicting deep and painful consequences on peoples of the Islamic World. ''Overlap of Islamic issues with complexity and implication of international changes is exacerbating the situation and throwing more obstacles before joint Islamic action organisations to either adopt successful solution or mitigate effects of these woes,'' Al Murr told the opening session of the 8th conference of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) in Khartoum, Sudan. Priority, he stressed, should be given to looking for ways and mechanisms necessary to energise joint Islamic action organisations including this gathering. ''You may share with me the opinion that problems in the Islamic World, from its north to south and east to west, have not been effectively addressed by the joint Islamic action organisations whose roles were limited and didn't go beyond issuance of statements and holding meetings that only produce resolutions which lack the will of implementation or the required influence in addressing challenges in the Islamic World,'' he noted. The FNC speaker called on representatives of the Islamic peoples to consider ways of tapping the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), knowledge, scientific and media revolutions to reinforce organisations of joint Islamic action or face our concerns without foreign interventions that could compromise our policies, and Islamic values and thoughts. He also urged the gathering to take a swift action in regards to a proposal put forward by the UAE two years ago about an Islamic parliamentary declaration that features a definite time action plan to empower the PUIC in addressing issues of the Islamic World. He believed that thinking, meetings and contacts to just issue such a declaration took more than two years and this runs counter to the current, rapid unfolding of events and complicated issues either in the international landscape or in the Islamic countries. Al Murr reiterated that the UAE was seeking nothing from that declaration but to serve issues of our Islamic World with full impartiality and transparency. ''From our part, we don't see justification of any concern over the emergence of the Islamic parliament because all governments of Islamic countries are represented in the OIC and the new parliament will not exclude any states, on the contrary it will act as a new parliamentary platform which can achieve what we have failed to do in PUIC over the past decades in aligning resolutions with governments so as to be more effective and influential in the Islamic sphere,'' he added. Al Mur warned of the dire consequences in the years to come of the spill over of the current sectarian disputes within one state which, he said, were unfortunately fuelled by Islamic and foreign circles. PUIC, he added, was demanded to deal with this dangerous situation seriously and '' we propose creation of a special committee to seek adequate mechanisms to preserve unity of the Islamic World and put an end to the spread of sectarianism and build transparent understanding and cooperation between Islamic states regardless of their schools and sects. ''We are following with deep sorrow and pain what is happening in sisterly Syria and the suffering of its people in border camps or within Syria itself. The war machine is harvesting hundreds of lives daily along with destruction of properties,'' he said. In this respect, the UAE had not spared any efforts to rush immediate relief assistance to the Syrian people since the eruption of the crisis and will continue to do so as the political leadership and government give maximum priority to the humanitarian issues motivated by the genuine Islamic principles and its keenness to halt the Syrian bloodbath and back any regional and international initiative to settle the Syrian crisis. On the three UAE islands occupied by Iran, the FNC speaker expressed the hope that the Iranian government would observe the tolerant teachings of Islam and end the occupation of the UAE three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs either through direct negotiations, mediation or international arbitration. Islamic World, he concluded, has no option but joint action, sincere determination and Islamic brotherhood to address mounting challenges, threats and woes it is facing now.