Cairo - A senior Egyptian security expert has called for starting a dialogue to correct the extremist thoughts promoted by radical Islamists, but has rejected reconciliation with the outlawed groups such as the terrorist group of the Muslim Brotherhood, (MB). "For years, we have followed a scientific approach and succeeded to persuade the ultra-conservative Jamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group), to give up violence," Fouad Allam, former Deputy Head of the now-dissolved Egyptian Domestic Security Agency apparatus, said in an interview with Al-Bawaba news website. "We need to achieve more through dialogue," he asserted, adding: "I was the one who started the process of concept correction and revisions in 1965 and the successor accomplished the mission." The idea of dialogue emerged with the organization of late Islamist Sayed Qutb, which took on many forms and developments, he pointed out. Dialogue became fruitful after the assassination of President Anwar Al Sadat, as all but only 180 members of Al Jamaa Al Islamiya have denounced their extremist thoughts, he said. Asked about the role of the Al Azhar and the Endowments Ministry in this regard, Allam, who had exerted demanding efforts in facing extremism in the 1950s and 1960s, downplayed the role played by the two religious bodies in facing extremism. He hoped that a recently-formed national council for countering terrorism will do much in this regard, calling for setting up a national Arab council for this purpose. The security expert also noted that the government's efforts to combat terror in the Sinai Peninsula came in late. "Three years ago, I proposed to evacuate the north Sinai for six months, and then cleanse the whole area from terrorists," he said. He said that the Palestinian Islamist Movement (Hamas), which rules the Gaza Strip on the border with Sinai, needs special measures to deal with it, expressing concerns over the returnees from Syria and Libya. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is designated by the Egyptian authorities as a terrorist organization.
