Akbar Ahmed urges West to deal with Kashmir and Palestine

Akbar Ahmed urges West to deal with Kashmir and Palestine

by Khalid Hasan
Pakistan Daily Times
01/30/2004

Akbar Ahmed urges West to deal with Kashmir and Palestine

WASHINGTON: Scholar Dr Akbar Ahmed told a meeting here this week that the West needed to deal with substantive issues of the Muslim world, such as Kashmir and Palestine.

He was addressing the first of a series of meetings called “Hearts and Minds of the Muslim World” organised at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. Sharing the podium with him were former US national security adviser Leon Fuerth, and former CIA director James Woolsey.

The “Hearts and Minds of the Muslim World” series aims to promote discussion on the US war on terror and an understanding of the Muslim world. The series is coordinated by Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), a non-partisan organisation of young leaders that seeks to create awareness in the US about world opinion and counter anti-American sentiment overseas. Future meetings will be held in Pakistan, Greece, and Germany, as well as in other US cities.

Dr Ahmed was introduced by Seth Green, organiser of the event and coordinator of AID, as “probably the world’s best-known scholar on contemporary Islam” according to the BBC. The Pakistani scholar, who holds the chair of Islamic studies at the American University, Washington, emphasised the importance of education and democracy in the Muslim world and the gap between rich and poor. “But any approach or solution to these issues must take into consideration the existing cultural and societal frameworks if it is to be effective and sustainable,” Dr Ahmed said. He said the ideal Muslim leader who was first and foremost a great and enlightened democrat was the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a visionary who saw no incompatibility between Islam and democracy. Dr Ahmed said the United States must take steps to improve its image in Muslim countries. He reminded the audience that according to polls, 80 percent of Americans have a negative perception of the Muslim world. Ironically, he added, more than 80 percent of the people in the Muslim world also have a negative perception of Americans. “That is why dialogue becomes very important between Islam and the West,” he emphasised.

Former CIA chief James Woolsey spoke of the need for the US to promote democracy, criticised the Wahabi movement and also spoke about the negative image of the US in the Muslim world. —Khalid Hasan