Hasina for D8 effort to dispel misconception about Islam
UNB, Dhaka
Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina yesterday proposed that delegations of the incumbent and former heads of state and government of D8 (Development-8) countries should be sent to the developed world to dispel misconceptions about Islam. "Before the anti-Islamic propaganda reaches new dimensions and spirals out of control, an immediate counter-campaign is called for," she said at a meeting at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul marking the seventh founding anniversary of the D8. The forum comprises eight major developing countries of the Muslim world--Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The three-day meet of the signatories to the D8 began in the Turkish city on Friday under the auspices of ESSAM (Economic and Social Research Center). ESSAM Chairman Reci Kutan chaired the meeting, also scheduled to be addressed by former Turkish prime minister and founder of the D8 Prof. Necmetin Erbakam, Malaysian former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad and former Indonesian president BJ Habibi. She also suggested sending similar D8 delegations to important developed countries with a request to use their influence in ending the massacre of innocent Palestinians and help establish the Palestine state. Hasina noted the rise of extremism and religious bigotry in some of our Muslim countries is a consequence of the problems in the Middle East as well as unwise and shortsighted domestic policies. The former prime minister said the anti-Islamic feeling increased alarmingly as a result of what seems to be a "systematic malicious anti-Islamic campaign perpetrated by certain vested quarter". She said the misconceptions about Islam and Islamic way of life are adversely affecting the relations of the countries belonging to Islamic ummah and the rest of the world. In fact, negative impact of this situation is having its toll on the development efforts of the developing world at large and the Islamic world in particular. Hasina said the D8 countries should take the lead within the OIC to reaffirm commitment for strengthening the fraternal relations based on Islamic values. As the only LDC in the D8 domain, she said Bangladesh needs duty-free and quota-free access to foreign markets to make a success its "fragile export-oriented initiatives". The country also requires foreign capital through both official and private channels to implement its development projects.
| 
