D8 Summit: Eradicating Extremism & Fighting for Muslim Rights
By Naveed Khan
Pleasanton, CA
Leaders of D8 countries assemble in Islamabad on November 22. They represent 1.1 billion people, all democratic countries, with an annual GDP of $3.2 trillion on nominal basis and $5.8 trillion in Purchasing Parity basis. One country is a nuclear power of significance, another is aspiring to become one.
Representing predominantly Muslim populations, the leaders of these countries have a special responsibility. Muslims are under duress in many parts of the world. Palestine, Kashmir, and Myanmar have seen repeated violence where fundamental rights of Muslims have been usurped.
In the last decade, Muslim countries have faced aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, and Pakistan. There is a war raging in Afghanistan and Palestine. Muslims living in the West are discriminated against in their daily life.
I have very high expectation of the D8 Summit. The group’s leaders should make a clarion call against extremism in Muslim countries and call for an end to sectarian violence. They should also express strong support for the rights of the Palestinian and Kashmiri people for freedom and to live with dignity. They should provide unequivocal and unambiguous material and moral support to any Muslim state facing foreign aggression.
The D8 group's goal is to expand economic and cultural ties, which must remain the core focus; however, they must speak out against extremism and for the rights Muslims in all parts of the world.
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