05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Feb 4: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri on Monday stressed the need for balanced approach by the West with regard to Muslim countries for ensuring better inter-faith harmony.

He was speaking at a seminar on 'Engaging Islam' here on Monday evening in which the other main speaker was British Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Mr Kasuri spoke of immense Muslim contributions in the field of science, astrology, philosophy and mathematics some 700 years ago.

He regretted that Islam had been misunderstood in the West, especially after 9/11.

The foreign minister mentioned unresolved issues of Palestine and Kashmir while comparing it with the quick implementation of UN resolutions on East Timor. "This double-standard by the West has not gone down well in the Muslim world," he said.

Mr Kasuri urged the Muslim countries to raise the standard of education, improve human resources and help attain economic growth.

Pakistan, he said, under the leadership of President Gen Musharraf has embarked on this agenda and the government has initiated different measures to achieve it.

He said there was a need on the part of the West to develop better understanding of Islam by creating better environment.

The foreign minister said it was unfortunate that terrorism has been associated with Islam in the West and this was primarily due to misunderstanding in the West with regard to Islam.

He was of the view that had the US, Europe and United Nations adopted more rationale policies on issues facing the Muslim world, the present state of affairs would not have emerged.

Mr Blunkett who arrived here on Monday morning from India, spoke of the need to develop more communication links between Islam and the West.

Lauding Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism, he said Britain and Pakistan need to explore how they could work together to defeat those who abuse religious values to undermine tolerance and understanding between communities and nations.

He lauded the contributions of over 800,000 people of Pakistan origin living in the UK towards multicultural society.

Mr Blunkett said the Irish community found itself in difficult straits when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched a war of terrorism on the British mainland.

He claimed that he understood the apprehensions of Muslims who were facing the same dilemma.

He stressed on improving language and communication skills in Muslim community in the UK for greater interaction with the people of other faiths and mentioned in this regard steps taken by the British Government.

He said the British Council in Pakistan is playing important role in the teaching of the English language to the Pakistanis to help improve their communication skills. He said because of terrorism, more Muslims have lost their lives than people of other faiths.

The British High Commissioner in Pakistan Mark Grant Lyall was also present on the occasion.-APP