Jordanian House Speaker calls for fighting extremism, terrorism

Speaker of the Jordanian House of Representatives Atif Al-Tarawna on Wednesday called on Arab governments and parliaments to eradicate extremism "which is gnawing at our societies under the guise of Islam." In a speech opening the 15th meeting of the Executive Committee of Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU), being held here for the next two days, Al-Tarawna decried the ubiquity of extremism in the region and its entrenchment in some places as Syria and Iraq and its ever widening reaches into localities in the Arab and Muslim world.
"As we encounter this extremism and terrorist groups in our midst, we feel even stronger revulsion to the Israeli brand of extremism being exercised against the Palestinian people and against Islamic and Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem," he said.
He urged that extremism in the region be dealt with uniformly in the same tone and manner by all Arab governments and parliaments and that it should be condemned with one unalterable voice.
In a similar speech at today's meeting, head of the Kuwaiti delegation to it, MP Faisal Al-Shayea, said that files on the candidates to assume the position of AIPU's secretary general had been vetted and a committee to grant the prize for parliamentary distinction to lawmakers had been formed.
He revealed that two candidates were vying for the position of secretary general, one was Saeed Al-Matheni from the Oman Shura Council and Fayez Al-Shawabka, advisor to the Jordanian Senate.
The venues and dates of The 16th meeting of the Executive Committee and the 21st conference of the AIPU will be determined here in Amman.