Markaz flays acts of terror

The four-day 37th annual conference of Jamia Markaz, which began here on Thursday, adopted a resolution against movements which ‘shamelessly’ use Islam, its name, and symbols, as a justification for crimes against humanity.

“These crimes against humanity should be condemned by all means,” the resolution said.

Terrorists bred numerous misconceptions about the religion in the public sphere. It was time the world realised the potential within the religion to counter these retrograde forces which resorted to violence regularly. No believer was entitled to transgress one’s life and property. No Muslim needed the destructive force that the terrorists unleashed, it said.

These terrorists made the lives of millions of Muslims miserable. The request to them was to end this circle of violence, if they stood for the Muslims of the world, the resolution said.

The conference urged leaders of every religion to join hands with the State against those forces who espoused violence for their selfish interests. State policies against terrorism should differentiate between believers and militants. Otherwise, those policies would backfire and the State and society would be affected, it said.

The State should come together against common enemies. It was an undeniable fact that the disruption in political and economic relations between nations in south Asia contributed immensely to the making of the current crisis. All nations should forget frictions and join hands to fight terror, it said.

The security of the people should be the basis of foreign policies and not ideologies of hate, it added.

Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar, founder of Jamia Markaz, one of the largest Islamic study centres in south Asia, led a mass prayer meet for the victims of Peshawar terror incident.

Faiz al Abideen, special adviser to the Saudi royal family, inaugurated the annual anniversary celebrations. K.P. Hamza Musliyar, treasurer, Samastha, presided over the session.