JEDDAH (IINA) – Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Madani said that terrorism is an enemy of the entire mankind, and it has no border, no creed or religion.

Madani said this while addressing the OIC Extraordinary Ministerial Open-ended Executive Committee Meeting on the theme of “Combatting Terrorism and Violent Extremism in the Muslim world”, which started here on Sunday. The Secretary General stressed that “terrorism cannot be defeated through military and security means alone,” underscoring the importance of addressing the political, social and economic aspects of the phenomenon.

Speaking to the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), the Secretary General said that Islam considers terrorism as one of the most heinous crimes against humanity. “Islam has legalized severe punishment against terrorism in order to preserve the decency of human life and to protect the society”. Terrorism is a criminal act that adopts hatred and destruction as its device”.

He also criticized some divisive elements that commit violent and aberrant acts then falsely and aggressively link them to Islam, noting that these elements seek to “undermine the joint actions” to make clear “the stance of Islam towards terrorism, extremism and violence.”

Madani called on the participants to “come up with an agreement that represents the position of all the OIC Member States towards the terrorist groups and their practices, and to renew the OIC’s principled position against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever and wherever”.

The Secretary General condemned “the continued violations of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state terrorism in the occupied territories, particularly the blockade of the Gaza Strip, in a blatant contravention of the international law”.

Madani also strongly condemned the heinous crime of burning alive of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh at the hands of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group. He further condemned the attacks on Peshawar school, and a hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli, as well as the attack on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The Secretary General stated that “the acts perpetrated by IS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, in addition to Al-Qaeda and other similar terrorist organizations run against the humanitarian, Islamic and international values”.

He affirmed that “combating terrorism cannot be achieved through security and military means alone, noting that it is imperative that due attention and practical plans to be devised to address the aspects, dimensions and contexts of the terrorism phenomenon”.
He pointed to “those political, social and economic contexts that provide favorable conditions for the spread of terrorism and violent extremism, including economic deprivation, exclusion, alienation, separation and marginalization of people, as well as the forcible dismantling of the political, legal, security, social and cultural institutions.”

Madani highlighted the need to “undermine the discourse of the extremist and terrorist groups that seek to legitimize the violent and aberrant acts, carried out in the name of religion, ideology or the alleged cultural superiority.”

He called for tackling “the underlying causes of sectarian violence and attempts to politicize the ideological differences, and drawing attention to the sectarian affiliations as the essence of the main identity, besides launching campaigns with the aim of converting Muslims from one sect to another”.

Madani also called for “taking into account the possibility of the terrorist and extremist groups being penetrated by a third party that intend to serve its own political agenda”.

The Secretary General drew the attention to the importance of the media role, and the emergence of e-terrorism with the use of new information technologies and communications by terrorist groups.

Madani called during the conference as well for the reviewing of two documents the “Code of Conduct on Countering International Terrorism,” which was published in 1994 and “The OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism,” published in 1999.

Madani considered that the time has come for reviewing and modernizing these documents to included provisions dealing with new manifestations of terrorism and the follow-up mechanism used by the Islamic countries.

The meeting called to express the “deep concern about the growing intolerance and discrimination against Muslims, which leads to the escalation of Islamophobia, in which constitutes a violation of the human rights and dignity of Muslims.

For his part Saudi Prince Turki, bin Mohamed bin Saud Al Kabeer Al Saud Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations, and Chairman of the meeting, said, “The region is witnessing unprecedented challenges including the outbreak phenomenon of terrorism, which has spread in many countries around the world, particularly in Islamic countries.”

He considered the meeting as an “opportunity to show the resolve and determination of the Islamic world, in front of the world, to move ahead in fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and from its sources wherever they come from.”

Prince Turki emphasized “the firm stance of his country in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and so out of its commitment and responsibility to participate in any serious international effort seeks to mobilize the joint international action in the fight against terrorism and those who stand behind it without distinction over the race, color or religion”.

He urged to come up with “a unified vision to fight against terrorism, countering it through political, military, security, intelligence, economically, intellectually, media and socially means”

He also stressed on “the importance of clarity in the plans, policies, procedures and the sharing of responsibilities, seriousness and continuity in the action required to eliminate the phenomenon of terrorism and its consequences”.

He also considered that “the slackness or hesitancy would not help in uprooting this phenomenon from its roots, it would rather promote its return in furious manner which cause a direct threat to our communities’ security and stability”

Prince Turki stressed that “action against the phenomenon of terrorism should cover all aspects of combating it, since any security action against terrorism must be accompanied by serious move towards tackling this misleading ideology and its supporters, in order to get its results.
He also called for “cutting off the funding sources for terrorists, whether it was money or weapons including monitoring the flowing arms coming from some suspicious organizations as it leads to destabilizing the security and stability of the region and prevent flagrant interference in its internal affairs.