NEW YORK, Aug 23: President Pervez Musharraf has accepted an invitation from the American Jewish Congress to speak about his campaign of “enlightened moderation” in Islam, chairman of the organization Jack Rosen said in an interview with Dawn on Tuesday.

Mr Rosen, who also heads the Council of World Jewry, said that Gen Musharraf’s speech in New York next month would be the first time a Muslim leader of international stature who publicly called for moderation in the Muslim world would address an event sponsored by the Jewish community.

Mr Rosen said he and two colleagues from the American Jewish Congress were invited to meet President Musharraf in Islamabad in May after he had accepted the invitation from the leaders of the Jewish community in New York.

The meeting with the American Jewish community will take place soon after a United Nations summit in New York from Sept 14-16.

He said: “It’s a bold move, it’s refreshing for us in here in America to hear a moderate voice of a very important international leader.”

Mr Rosen said he hoped that “President Musharraf can set a trend so that Muslims and the people living in Western society — people of all faiths — start having a positive dialogue with each other instead of this endless confrontation.”

“President Musharraf’s presentation to the audience will resonate far beyond our community and beyond the New York audience,” Mr Rosen stressed.

Noting that “President Bush has the same objective to find moderate voices in the Muslim world”, Mr Rosen said “it’s a unique opportunity to begin to alleviate tensions between Muslims, the West and much of the world”.

Mr Rosen said that in an effort to reach out to other communities, the AJC had held meetings with Pakistani community leaders two years ago. In a speech to the Organization of Islamic Conference last year President Musharraf unveiled his doctrine of enlightened moderation.”

“This doctrine is a refreshing doctrine compared to what we’ve been hearing for the last 10 years from the Islamic world,” David Twersky, who accompanied Mr Rosen to Islamabad, told a news agency in an interview.

“He doesn’t blame everything on the West. He takes a lot of responsibility,” Mr Twersky said. “For example, he says most Muslims being killed in the world today are being killed by other Muslims.”

Mr Twersky said what Musharraf is trying to do “is more than pushing the envelope.”

“He is really trying to change the rules of the game,” Mr Twersky was quoted as saying. “Right now, those rules keep various parts of the world population from communicating with each other.

He is trying to change those rules, and he is doing it in a very dramatic fashion by accepting the invitation to the September event.”