ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has warned the Muslim world that the emerging nexus between the United States, Israel and India is a major threat to the ummah.

According to a press release issued by the Senate secretariat on Wednesday, Mr Rabbani sounded the warning while addressing the 13th session of the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries (PUIC) being held in Tehran.

He said that Pakistan strongly opposed the US attempt to alter the legal and historical status of Al Quds, adding that the move was a blatant violation of international law and United Nations Security Council’s resolutions.

The co-sponsoring of the UN resolution on the Al Quds issue had brought US pressure on Pakistan and the Muslim world should realise that, the Senate chairman said.

“Today it is Pakistan and Iran, tomorrow it can be any other country. We must ... rise above divisive conflicts be it sectarian, ideological or communal. I propose that the way forward lies in enhancement of multi-stratum cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, infrastructure, investment, education, health, science and technology, agriculture, energy and defence.”

He said that Pakistan had borne the brunt of the war on terror for over one-and-a-half decades. Thousands of Pakistanis — military personnel as well as civilians — had lost their lives and almost as many had been maimed and wounded, he added.

Despite that, Mr Rabbani said, Pakistan would continue to play a proactive role against this tide of extremism and anarchy.

He called for collective efforts to root out the menace of terrorism and said that the Muslim world must not let a handful of extremists and transnational terrorists to malign Islam for their vested interests. He stressed the need for promoting the true image and message of Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance and respect for human dignity, rights and freedoms.

The Senate chairman said that being a forceful institutional voice of the Muslim world, the PUIC could play an important role (in this regard) through elected representatives of people.

He termed the PUIC a step forward for increased mutually-beneficial integration within the Muslim world as it envisaged the “strengthening of contacts, cooperation and coordination between various Muslim countries’ parliamentary, governmental and non-governmental orga­ni­sations, with the aim of advancing common objectives”.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018