ISLAMABAD, June 1: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday called upon both the Ummah and the West to pursue simultaneously the two-pronged strategy of 'enlightened moderation' to respond effectively to the formidable challenges of global peace and security.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of an international seminar 'OIC Challenge and Response' at the Jinnah Convention Centre here on Tuesday. Expounding on the strategy, President Musharraf said: "One prong to be delivered by the Muslim World of shunning militancy, extremism and adopting the path of socio-economic uplift.

The other prong to be delivered by the West, and the US in particular, must aim at resolutely resolving all political disputes with justice and also assisting in the social-economic uplift of the deprived Muslim World."

However, the president made it clear that the strategy of enlightened moderation could not be a one-way affair. "Both the prongs must be launched and implemented simultaneously and both must succeed.

Let no one make the disastrous mistake of putting the onus on one side alone," he warned. The president stated that it was the collective responsibility of the entire international community to address "the dangers that tend to push human civilization into the abyss of barbarism".

Reminding the Ummah of its 'glorious past' and the values of Islam, he observed: "Those who were trailing us are now leading us and dictating to us." He urged the Ummah to abandon the confrontationist approach and adopt the path of progress and development.

"The time for renaissance has come. The only way forward is our socio-economic development," the president emphasized in his address to a large gathering of Islamic scholars and intellectuals from the OIC member states. "We have to concentrate on human resource development through poverty alleviation, education, health, and social justice," he added.

The president said that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) had a crucial role to play in this regard. He underlined the need to infuse life into the 57-nation pan-Islamic body to be able to deliver on the twin principles of the OIC charter: 'Unity within' and 'solidarity without'.

He also drew attention to the vital question of financing the OIC's activities and programmes on a regular and assured basis by the member states. "We have to show resolve and political will with full financial backing and rise above self-interests for our joint, common good in the very spirit that Islam teaches us," the president said.

He reiterated the need to understand the root-cause of extremism and militancy, asserting that the root lies in political injustices, denial and deprivation.

To substantiate his point, the president referred to the anti-Soviet Afghan war supported by the West, the Palestine dispute, ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia, the Chechen uprising, Kashmir freedom struggle, and 'the angry reaction of the US' against Taliban and Al Qaeda after the 9/11 terror attacks in America. He asserted that it were political disputes and injustices and not Islam that had led to antagonism in the Muslim masses.

In what appeared to be a veiled reference to the US military action, President Musharraf said: "The world at large and the powers that be must also realize that confrontation and use of force is no more the option available to bring ultimate peace. Justice must be done and be seen to be done."

On a note of caution, the president said that theories of 'Clash of Civilizations' added fuel to fire. He quoted with concern the statement made by the Pope while welcoming the 10 new entrants into the EU fold in which the Pope said: "The bloc could only face the challenges of the 21st Century if it defended its Christian roots" and "Europe's identity would be incomprehensible without Christianity."

Earlier, Senator Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan's representative for the OIC Commission of the Eminent Persons on Enlightened Moderation, delivered the welcome address. Dr Kamal Hasan, representative of the Chairman OIC Summit, also spoke on the occasion.

Cabinet members, parliamentarians, senior government and military officials, former diplomats, and ambassadors of OIC member states and Western countries attended the inaugural session of the two-day OIC seminar being hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.