GENEVA, May 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Swiss Muslim activists and parliamentarians hailed the establishment of a new Islamic group, the Swiss-Islamic World Organization, as a bridge to solidify ties between Switzerland and the Muslim world and a counterweight to rising campaigns of hatred and stereotype against the Swiss Muslims.

“Promoting ties between the Muslim minority in Switzerland and parties playing an influential role in Swiss policies, such as Muslim countries, should be linked through influential groupings, not only through individual efforts,” Daniel Vischer, a Swiss MP of the Greens Party and co-founder of the organization, told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, May 11.

The Swiss-Islamic World Organization was established Monday, May 9, in Zurich with the ultimate goal of enhancing ties between the Muslim minority in Switzerland and the Swiss parties interested in developing cooperation with the Islamic world such as politicians, economists and research bodies.

“The Swiss Muslims have become part and parcel of Swiss society and have played important role in promoting ties with the Islamic world due to their different cultural backgrounds,” Vischer said.

The Swiss MP, a staunch supporter of Arab issues, stressed that Swiss Muslims are no longer seen as immigrants in the European country.

“They [Muslims] are integrated in Swiss society, which requires measures to preserve their rights, not sideline them on the issues of their interest.”

Islam is the second religion in Switzerland after Christianity. The country is home to 330,000 Muslims representing a sizable 4.5 percent of the country’s some eight million people.

Part of the conference declaring the establishment of the organization.

The idea of founding the Swiss-Islamic World Organization came up following rising media attacks against the Muslim minority in the European country, said Ahmed Elisa, the organization’s chairman.

“Unfortunately, attacks against Islam and Islamic symbols have become a normal thing, especially in the absence of a strong tool to defend the Islamic world against such media campaigns,” he told IOL.

Elisa denied any competition between the nascent organization and other Islamic groups in Switzerland, urging all Muslim bodies to share hands in serving the interests of Swiss Muslims.

“It is required to rally efforts of Swiss Muslim activists to serve the issues of the Muslim minority and abort efforts to tarnish the image of Swiss Muslims.”

Mohamed Hegazey, the organization’s Executive Committee member, agreed.

“Rallying efforts of Islamic bodies in Switzerland would help abort attempts to portray the Muslim minority in Switzerland as an ignorant community and unable to defend its rights.”

Fariz Ljatifi, the organization’s secretary general said Swiss Muslims have powerful tools to stand against rising racist attacks against Islam and Muslims.

“Swiss Muslims of the second and third generations have great potentials to stand against racist campaigns against Islam through the cultural exchange between Swiss society and societies from which their fathers came.”

Swiss Muslims have been unable to form an umbrella body to speak in their name with the Swiss authorities, playing into the hands of the Swiss media to launch racist and hatred campaigns against the Muslim minority in the country.