Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq, Secre-tary General of World Muslim Congress, hasurged upon the UN, OIC and the Arab League to take immediate practical steps to halt the wanton bloodshed in the Middle East.

Reacting to Israeli attack on Lebanon, the WMC Secretary General sent messages to H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations Organisation; H.E. Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General, Organisation of Islamic Conference and H.E. Mr. Amer Moussa, Secretary General, League of Arab States expressing extreme concern at the escalating violence in the Middle East and regretting that the UN Security Council, the OIC and the Arab League “have not been able to bridle the aggression”.

The following is the text of his message:

“Excellency,

The escalating violence in the Middle East is a cause of extreme concern for all those who wanted a peaceful settlement of the Middle East problem by granting Palestinian territories status of a sovereign entity.

“The recently held elections in the Palestinian territories brought up a majority of Hamas Members with full electoral legitimacy but as expected, the Israelis not only refused to deal with the new representative Government but also influenced their friends in the west to strangulate and punish the Palestinian men, women and children for their choice. The initial ignition culminated into a full scale massive retaliation which has been termed by everybody as unjustified over reaction, it looks as if it was pre-meditated and now besides the Palestinians, the population in Lebanon, are bearing the brunt of Israeli wrath. The trail of death and destruction is reaching Syria, as well, but it is unfortunate that the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, the organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab League have not been able to bridle the aggressor which will have very serious long-term effects in the minds of groups and individuals who would lose all hope in any of the international organizations in stopping use of force, aggression and bloodshed against innocent people and the spiral of violence could continue negating all hopes of international peace and the curbing of terrorism at the State, as well as, individual level.

“I urge Your Excellency to take immediate practical steps for halting this wanton bloodshed by moving through your Organization.”

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