April 10, 2006	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 9: Time has come for the Muslims to fight their fears and hypocrisy and engage in an open and honest dialogue both with their own people and the West. PML Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Sayed made these remarks during a meeting with former Egyptian ambassador and noted author Dr Naoman Galal.

He said Arabs and the Muslims should not blame others for their problems and must take responsibility for decisions and the consequences of their policies.

He said today there was defeatism and loss of confidence among Arabs and the Muslims and there was a clash between the rulers and the ruled. Tracing history of the Arab world in the last 30 years, he examined the highs and lows in terms of Arab prestige and power.

Senator Mushahid recalled that the October 1973 Arab-Israel war was a turning point for the Arab and the Muslim world. President Sadaat took a bold decision to liberate occupied Egyptian territory and the result was that it broke the myth of Israeli invincibility and had also shattered the myth, prevalent since the 1967 war, that the Arabs could not fight.

The October war forged Arab unity, promoted the Palestine cause to centre stage and used oil as a political weapon for the first time.

He said the result was that today within Arab societies, policies were based on fear and there was a widening gap between the rulers and the ruled. At the international stage, instead of dialogue, there was violence and use of force and we are witnessing “dialogue of the deaf”.

If the West had the capacity to kill, the Arabs and the Muslims were demonstrating their willingness to die. He said the biggest challenge in the Arab and Muslim world was to reverse wrongs by cleaning up the mess within their own societies, adding that Muslims elite would have to share their wealth and political power with their own people.

Internationally, the challenge before the Arabs and the Muslims was to fight the “battle of ideas” with an honest and open approach. He said intellectuals should take the lead in this regard.