LAHORE, Jan 31: Lahore Iranian Cultural Centre Director-General Aqae Muhammad Saeed Moezudden urged on Thursday the need for the creation of an Islamic bloc to exchange common Muslim culture and traditions.

He was speaking at the Meet the Press programme held at the cultural centre here to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

When asked about the nature of the bloc, Mr Moezuddin said it should promote cultural ties between the Islamic countries. “I have not hinted at any political or military bloc. The one which I have suggested should have been formed much earlier,” he said.

He said at present Iran did not want war or confrontation with anyone. It in fact it wanted Islamic world’s dialogue with other civilizations. “We have many things for the dialogue,” he said.

The director general parried a question about the possibility of Iran’s reconciliation with Iraq and said this should better be asked from the Iranian ambassador or consul general. Iran had always followed the policy of friendship and peace and had never imposed war on anyone. These were others who imposed a war on Iran which had been subjected to terrorism.

He said Iran did not talk of war but had the right to defend itself. Iran had opposed the violations of human rights in Afghanistan and hoped that no-one would impose a war on it.

Earlier, Mr Moezudden elaborated the role of media in promoting good in society and said it was its duty to transfer one nation’s culture to another so as to create harmony between them.

He said several functions were being organized to mark the Iranian revolution. This included a seminar in Lahore on Feb 8, exhibition of Iranian feature films, a seminar on Allama Iqbal and launching of a book of his thought. The cultural centre was also introducing the Allama Iqbal Persian Language Teaching Centre on its premises.

Dr Mugheesuddin Sheikh said the Iranian revolution had left an impact on Pakistani society during its earlier days. The relations between the two countries had seen many ups and downs during the past 23 years and Afghanistan was one of the major causes which created differences between them.

He said it was required to know as to what went wrong between the two countries which urgently required to develop good relations to meet the current situation.

Dr Sheikh termed US president’s recent statement about Iran a dangerous development for the entire Muslim world. Had the Muslim countries taken a courageous stand on the issue of Afghanistan, the things would have been better for them now. Now was the time to get united and these were Pakistan and Iran which could bring about peace in Afghanistan, he said.

Writer Bushra Rehman also felt the need for unity among the Muslim countries in view of the current world scenario.

Later, the director general inaugurated an exhibition of scripts of the Holy Quran, books and literature depicting Iranian culture and different phases of its revolution.