President Saleh: Islam is a religion of justice and tolerance

SANA’A, June 28 (Saba)-President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Tuesday “Islam is a religion of justice and tolerance”. In a reception meeting with delegations to the 32nd session of Islamic foreign ministers in Sana’a, Saleh said that “Islam completely rejects terrorism”. “We have talked so many times about the key causes of terrorism on the top of which is poverty,” he said. Therefore, he called on rich nations to assist the impoverished ones overcome poverty and subsequently be able to eliminate terror. Saleh said the Islamic world is now passing through a delicate stage as a result of heated smear campaigns against Islam and Muslims. He protested against the international double-standard policy. “The developed countries are now over-talking into political and economic reforms in the developing countries, while ignoring talk on reforming the international organizations,” he said hinting at the UN organization. The president said the conference is supposed to come out with a way for having a permanent representative for the 1.2 billion Muslims in the UN Security Council. He said that there are qualified African and Asian countries that are qualified to be permanent members in the UN Security Council just like the five permanent representatives in the council. Condemning “all forms of terror”, president Saleh , however, expressed annoyance at the use of terror ” as a sword on the necks of the Muslim Ummah.” He urged unifying the stance among Moslem nations over common issues. “We have talked with our American and European friends, and they hope for unifying the stance of the Islamic world,” he said. OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed in his speech appreciation of Yemen’s hospitality to guests and logistic arrangement of the conference. He said that Yemen has achieved a big progress in development of democracy and the involvement of the people in decision-making. AH/AA SABA