Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has called on the Muslim world to save itself from what he called its own backwardness through education and scientific development.

He says the biggest jihad or holy war in the Muslim world should be the fight against poverty, depravation, illiteracy, poor health and underdevelopment, which he said was the worst in the world. He added Muslim nations are always fighting among themselves and are perceived by the outside world as terrorists. He said a new fraternity of Muslims should redress this situation.

President Musharraf made the comments in Islamabad at a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

He urged Muslim countries to create a common development fund to boost scientific research and technological progress. He also said higher education must become one of the highest priorities in the Muslim world. Unless this is done, he warned the Islamic world and Muslims will always be perceived as backward and prone to extremism.

Some information for this report provided by AFP.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version