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Aligarh:
US President Barack Obama's initiative for engaging the Islamic
world was making a slow yet steady progress, American Special Envoy
Rashad Hussain today said and appealed to Muslims to show patience
and faith as the US makes efforts to rebuild bridges with the
community.
Despite repeated attempts by a fringe
group of Muslims to spread terror in the name of Islam, Obama
believes that the terms Islamic terror and Islamic jehad are being
misused, Hussain, the US Special Envoy to the Organisation of
Islamic Conference, said.
Addressing faculty members at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), he
said, broadly speaking, "90 per cent of the victims of such acts of
senseless terror are Muslims themselves and hence those perpetuating
senseless violence have no right to project themselves as champions
of Muslim faith."
To a question pertaining to the
allegations that Muslims often feel harassed by policies of the US
Government, Hussain said, "When acts of terror are committed by
fundamentalists who claim to speak in the name of Islam, voices of
protest from mainstream Muslims are often muted."
He said, Obama is sensitive to
religious and cultural traditions of Muslims and that Muslim women
in the US were practising ''hijab'' freely while performing their
duties as skilled professionals. Obama has taken up a programme for
promoting issues like health, science, education, and inter-faith
dialogue among Muslims.
Referring to the Arab-Israel conflict, Hussain said the US is
directing efforts towards creating an atmosphere conducive for
holding talks. "The Arab-Israel conflict is more than 60 years old.
President Obama has worked out a long term road map for resolving
this deep-rooted conflict the fruits of which will soon be seen by
the world."
On the presence of foreign forces in
Iraq and Afghanistan, Hussain said, "There is a definite roadmap for
withdrawal of forces. Any withdrawal cannot be overnight."
Hussain, who is on a nine-day visit to
India, was appointed by Obama in February as part of his
government's initiative to "deepen and expand its relationship with
the Muslim world".
His family has roots in Gorakhpur, Patna and Aligarh and he is a
product of Yale Law School. He had served as a Trial Attorney at the
US Department of Justice.
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