CAIRO: A meeting of seven ministers from Muslim countries took place in Pakistan to discuss solutions for the conflicts marring the Middle East. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia in addition to the Turkish secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, met in Islamabad in an event considered a precursor for a leaders' summit to be hosted by Saudi Arabia. Hosting them was Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who said in a statement released by his office that "The deteriorating security situation in the Middle East demands solidarity among Muslim states, and a fresh initiative is needed to solve the festering disputes. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had embarked on a four-day tour of the Middle East last month visiting the countries represented at the Islamabad meeting in addition to Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The Prime Minister's statement continued by saying that the visiting states and OIC "welcomed and supported the initiative by President General Pervez Musharraf for the solution of issues in the Middle East, and said the initiative will strengthen the Middle East peace process and will lay the foundation for durable peace there. Expert in Asian Affairs at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Mohammed Fayez told The Daily Star Egypt that Pakistan is focusing on the Middle East conflicts in an attempt to curtail the wider terrorism threat. "Pakistan is focusing on the Arab-Israeli conflict because they are trying to push for a different approach in the war on terrorism, he said. Fayez added "The new development in Pakistan is an attempt to mediate regional conflicts and fight terrorism and this is directly involved with domestic Pakistani politics. Pakistan played a huge role in the war on terrorism and against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and received privileges in return after relations with much of the world had deteriorated in light of its nuclear tests. He continued "however, Pakistan was criticized for not doing enough to prevent a Taliban resurgence. Therefore Pakistan started criticizing the war on terrorism itself, laying the blame at the feet of Nato and the West for having a negative attitude towards the roots of the problem which is the regional conflicts. Pakistan argued that to win the war on terrorism you must address and solve regional disputes. In this regard, Pakistan urged the international community to negotiate with Iran through the diplomatic process, rather than threaten the use of force. Aziz's statement said that "the use of force should be avoided. Prior to Musharraf's visit to the Middle East, he had telephoned Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to discuss his upcoming visit, which led some to believe that Pakistan may be attempting to also mediate between Iran and its Arab neighbours. Musharraf had "shared his deep concern with the Iranian president over the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, in particular Palestine, and the need for fresh efforts to push for a just settlement of the Palestinian issue, in a statement released by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry at the time. Fayez said that Arab relations with Pakistan, while good, could be considerably improved. The reason according to Fayez was an upturn in relations between the Arab countries and Pakistan's regional rival India as well as India's importance to the Gulf as a market for energy and oil.
