US media demonising Muslim world: Waite

AL QAEDA has to be engaged in an effective dialogue, said Terry Waite.

“A meaningful negotiation has become imperative after the failure of ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – under the pretext of global war on terrorism.” he added.

Waite was speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the latest Doha Debates; the motion for which was, “This house believes it is time to talk to Al Qaeda”.

An award-winning writer, lecturer and broadcaster, Waite came to public attention in 1980s after successfully negotiating the release of hostages from both Iran and Libya, while he himself was taken as a hostage in Lebanon and kept in captivity for five years.

“Al Qaeda is not an organisation, rather an ideology and only few people with specific aspirations have subscribed to it,” explained Waite.

Waite partly blamed West for siding and strengthening the extremist elements for years; to use them for their proxy wars, before abandoning them.

“Even in Iraq, they have now been strengthened enormously, since during Saddam Hussain, no one had ever heard of the organisation existing in the country,” said Waite.

Waite remarked that the Islamic world has been demonised by the American media; because the popular American culture has always needed someone to vilify from Red Indians to Communists to Arabs.

Waite suggested that those Islamic and Western countries willing to tackle the threat of Al Qaeda should be brought under an umbrella and the organisation should be approached for the purpose of a meaningful dialogue.

“We talked to Irish Republican Army (IRA), didn’t we? Why can’t we talk to representatives of Al Qaeda?” remarked Waite.

“But steps taken by Western countries should be sincere, or else the cynicism in the Islamic world will only grow deeper,” warned Waite.

Another panelist, Asad Durrani, who was the Director General of the Military Intelligence (MI) and later of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, told Gulf Times, that the world should indeed make an attempt to talk to Al Qaeda.

“There has never been an attempt to actually contact a representative of this so-called terrorist outfit, and hear their demands,” he pointed out.

Durrani dismissed the notion that Pakistan has been involved in West’s proxy war by ‘choice’, and supports Al Qaeda – which is generally believed to be based in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It’s the geographical location of Pakistan, which has tainted the name of the country with such extremist elements as Al-Qaeda. Pakistan is not New Zealand – a far-flung island with no immediate neighbours. Pakistan is in the middle of ancient and modern trade routes and a lot of countries have vested interests in our country,” he said.

Durrani blamed America’s foreign policy for the growing misunderstanding between Islamic world and West, and suggested that Al Qaeda was born as an uprising against the growing American hegemony.

“Events like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are the direct result of America’s interference in other country’s internal affairs,” he added.