President Hassan Rouhani stressed the need to put into effect an initiative he had introduced in 2013 dubbed "World against Violence and Extremism (WAVE)" in a situation that the indifference of international organizations to the expansion of terrorism has severely "hurt the global conscience."
Rouhani issued the call in a speech he delivered yesterday on the first day of the summit of African and Asian heads of state in Jakarta held as part of the 60th commemoration ceremony of the 1955 Asian-African Conference, also known as Bandung Conference, Fars news agency reported.
The president said instead of backing terrorism by taking improper action on the part of some countries which tend to start war, it is necessary to adopt a wise approach to root out terrorism. "Fighting against terrorism needs to be among the main plans of the summit in line with its principles and values," he noted.
Taking the opportunity of what he called a" historic gathering", which represents the majority of the world population, Rouhani proposed an inclusive plan with four main principles to eradicate terrorism.
As the first principle, he referred to “respecting the right of the humankind to live” as a fundamental concept in the combat against terrorism.
“We should reach a point in which, for the sake of global security and peace of mind, the life of every single individual with any religion, ethnicity or race is considered to be the same as those of the others,” he said. Once there is no difference between Muslims, Christians, Jews and Buddhists or between Africans, Asians or Europeans with regard to human values, then terrorism will not be able to endanger global peace nor to destroy individual and collective security, he added.
The second principle of the WAVE plan, said the president, is preventing the misuse of religion to justify the killing of people. He called on the religious and cultural leaders around the world to refute the justification of murder in the name of religion.
As the third principle, Rouhani referred to the identification and removal of the factors that make terrorist groups attractive to ordinary people in an effort to block their recruitment efforts.
“The cultural and economic roots of extremism and craving violence need to be identified and stamped out.”
Cutting Terrorists’ Lifelines
Last but not least, the president called for preventing the growth of terrorism by blocking terrorists’ financial, political and intelligence channels.
“As long as some governments believe in good vs. bad terrorists, the community of international terrorism will not receive the world’s decisive message in dealing with their crimes, and it will continue to survive each day under a new name and with the support of a new country.”
Rouhani also expressed his pleasure with his presence at the conference as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), calling the bloc “the biggest diplomatic achievement of recent decades.”
He also called for efforts to help strengthen relationships between Asia and Africa, a goal which he said was also stressed by the NAM 2005 declaration on the New Asian–African Strategic Partnership (NAASP), asking the international community to take steps to enhance cooperation among the developing countries of Asia and Africa within the framework of the new partnership.
