ISLAMABAD, May 10: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto has asked the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to share the pain of the Iraqi people and take up the issue of prisoners' abuse.

This she said in a letter to the OIC secretary-general on Monday. "People of Pakistan and those across the larger Muslim world would also like to see the OIC share the pain of the Iraqi people by taking up the abuse issue," she said.

Ms Bhutto said the Muslim world could use the Iraqi prisoner abuse issue to help prevent acts of torture and humiliation from being committed through interrogation. "If we are able to do so, the suffering of the Iraqi people will have not gone in vain." She said the PPP felt disgusted upon seeing how badly the Iraqi prisoners were treated.

She said they were treated worse than animals, being stripped naked, beaten, tied to electrical wires, urinated upon, pulled naked by dog leashes with young boys and women reportedly sexually abused and filmed while being abused.

"We who belong to the OIC must stand by the values of justice, due process and human dignity that are at the heart of Islam. Time has come to play a proactive role by having our own OIC human rights groups that can alert the world community and public at large about abuses when they take place and to prevent them from taking place.

"I am writing on behalf of the PPP to inform you of the shock, horror and condemnation emanating from the people of Pakistan over the abuse of detained Iraqis. This outrage at the humiliation, torture and sexual abuse that the suspects suffered is shared across the Muslim world.

She said that worse than the humiliation was the sense of helplessness that seems to pervade among the Muslims. "We could use the Iraqi prisoner abuse issue to advantage by undertaking steps that help prevent acts of torture and humiliation from being committed through interrogation. If we are able to do so, the suffering of the Iraqi people will have not gone in vain."

Ms Bhutto said US president and British prime minister have apologized to the Iraqi people and to the Iraqi victims of torture. "I believe that we also owe an apology to the Iraqi prisoners who are victims of degrading treatment violative of international law for remaining ignorant when we owed it to our community to have been on alert."