Fehmida seeks support to curb extremism

CAPE TOWN—Speaker Pakistan’s National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza has called on the world’s powerful countries to support Benazir Bhutto’s plan, modeled on the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after the Second World War, to assist the Muslim world in confronting violent extremism.
She was addressing the fourth meeting of world’s women speakers of parliament, held here along with the 114th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The meeting was presided by the Speaker of South Africa’s Speaker, Baleka Mbete. Dr. Mirza told women speakers that global injustices had to be redressed to address the problem of terrorism. “From the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to the conflicts in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and Kashmir there is much that tugs at the hearts of Muslims. Violent extremists have taken advantage of resentment bred by raging conflicts and persisting injustices, “ she said.
Dr. Fehmida Mirza is the Muslim world’s first woman speaker. She referred to the ideas outlined by the world’s first Muslim woman prime minister, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto regarding “a twenty-first century Marshall Plan to assist the Islamic world leap into modernity.” “The rich and powerful nations of the world would have to mobilize resources for this effort just as the Marshall Plan helped rebuild Europe after the Second World War.

—Agencies