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| Arabia |
| Kuwait to defend oasis of peace |
| 2005-02-26 |
| Kuwait seeks to sequester extremist groups and subsequently deal firmly with them, Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs, in an interview published by the weekly magazine Al-Musawar. Kuwait is fighting individuals and groups that have a grip on extremist ways of thinking that target the innocent as well as the socio-economic structure of the society, Sheikh Nasser told the magazine. He underscored the necessity for extremists in the country to realize that Kuwait has always been an oasis of peace, tolerance, and moderation in the understanding of Islam and its gracious tenets that eschew violent tactics and social upheaval as tools of social change or expression of opinion. Furthermore, he advocated that mosques and religiously-inclined gatherings steer clear away from politics and focus on their core subjects which should be religious in nature with no political hues. With regard to recent terrorist incidents in Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser noted that these incidents drove the point home that extremist religious thinking has no place in the normally tolerant Kuwaiti society. Most religious organizations in Kuwait, he pointed out, expressed their revolution to acts of terror on Kuwaiti soil targeting innocent people's lives. As to the ultimate objective of extremist religious groups in the Gulf region, he indicated that instating a religious theocracy instead of the current secular governments is what these extremists endeavor to achieve. On many fronts in Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser underlined, there will be indefatigable efforts by authorities to uproot extremist thinking from school books and from work places as well. Kuwait will spare nothing in dealing with those who aim at gutting the society with their violence and extremism, he assured. Updating school curriculums with emphasis on tolerance and moderation and forging ahead in the process of political and economic reforms and guaranteeing equal rights for everyone will be the beakon under which the government will work as part of an overall effort to fight terrorism and extremism, he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |