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Iranian Daily: Muslim World, West, In Need of Deep Soul-Searching
TEHRAN, Sept 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Iran Daily on Tuesday condemned last week's devastating terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, calling for more dialogue between the Islamic world and the West, citing such dialogue as the only way to end the era of isolation, boycotts and gun boat diplomacy.
"Hurling accusations, acrimony and talking of hatred and vengeance" by the West will not do, warned the English-language paper, advising the Muslim world and the West to do some deep soul-searching instead, Iran's Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Tuesday.
Considering the present state of global affairs, both the Islamic world and the West should "break the barriers of hatred and forge better understanding" between them, the paper said.
They must remember that, "international relations for long have been conducted on the edifice of injustice, arrogance and corruption," it added.
Furthermore, "a cross-section of the world citizens feel that they are being denied basic rights in their own countries and are victims of two laws [double-standards]," decried the daily, adding that they witness the dispatching of armies to "implement [certain] U.N. resolution[s] while in other cases decades-old rulings by the world body are totally ignored."
In some countries, even children and the elderly die by thousands because of sanctions or poverty, but the world conscience remains unmoved, criticized the paper.
But the situation in the Muslim world looks beyond the realm of redemption, it stressed, adding that dictators and military regimes rob their peoples of their fundamental rights and leave them in the throes of ignorance and backwardness.
As such, "those living under oppression and suppression cannot be accused of producing angry, intolerant and violent minds," it said.
This, however, does not justify and cannot be attributed to last weeks' attacks in U.S., the
Iran Daily emphasized.
"Such inhuman acts have no place in any religion, Islam in particular, whose followers greet each other with the salutation 'peace be with you'," reminded the article.
It is therefore the Western media which needs to revise its timeworn ways, stressed the daily.
"With speculations and wishful thinking aimed at discrediting Muslims, the West's media machine is largely responsible for filling the Western mind with fallacies and misconceptions," it stressed.
Nevertheless, Muslims must in all earnest ask themselves if they really represent the faith described in the Holy Qur'an as the "best Ummah [nation] which propagates virtue and prevents vice," advised the daily.
"One can perhaps comprehend the widespread desire for revenge in the U.S., but a lot will depend on America's response," it pointed out.
Notably, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer criticized outside efforts to portray Islam as the enemy of the Western world, warning his fellow citizens of "very bitter times" in the aftermath of last week's devastating terrorist attacks in the U.S., Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported Tuesday.
"NATO's enemy is not Islam," Fischer was quoted as saying on the German public television station, ZDF, late Friday evening.
"Our enemy is the kind of terrorism which is not afraid of conducting mass murder. We are in for very bitter times," he added.
Fischer called for a "long-term commitment" in the global struggle against terrorism, IRNA reported.
"In the fight against terrorism, I expect a long-term commitment with military, political and cultural components," he said.
Iran notably warned Tuesday against any U.S. military retaliations against Afghanistan, with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi saying it would be a catastrophe that would cost innocent lives, state radio reported, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
An attack on Afghanistan "would kill numerous innocent people and touch off an exodus" of populations, Kharazi said in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Hubert Vedrine.
Kharazi, who also spoke by phone Monday with Fischer - scheduled to travel to Washington later Tuesday - said the United States "must demonstrate restraint and consider the matter carefully," AFP reported.
The minister called for a long-term strategy against terrorism devised within the framework of the United Nations.
He said Iran was further worried that Israel would take advantage of the situation to step up its attacks on Palestinians. Israel has since Tuesday already forced it way into autonomous Palestinian territories, killing several and wounding dozens more.
On Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned against "any eventual military action in Afghanistan which would lead to a new human catastrophe."
Reformist President Mohammad Khatami also urged Washington to avoid any hasty reactions to last Tuesday's terrorist bombings, and urged the United Nations to take the lead in the fight against terrorism.
Iran was among the first nations to swiftly condemn the attacks on the U.S.
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