The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, has said that the current events on the political scene in the Arab world required a candid revision of the attitude of real politics towards the issue of reform.

In a lecture yesterday at the Islamic Studies Centre at Oxford University themed “A Vision of the Current Arab Situation and Future Prospects”, he said that the Qatar has ever reiterated that reform and popular participation emanate from the right of peoples to exercises their own will in organising their political life freely in a way securing the respect of the rights and duties for all individuals in the community in a right manner regardless of desires, interests or foreign pressure. He noted that the desire of the people is not irrational or mere imported ideas.

Qatar’s foreign policy is based on the need for co-existence and peaceful cooperation at the international level on the basis of mutual respect of the rights and duties, and joint interests in accordance with the rules of international legitimacy.

“We emphasise the values of tolerance, justice, openness interactions among peoples, cultures and civilizations which must be accorded due respect and peoples must live in freedom and dignity in their countries,” he said, underlining the importance of renouncing violence, extremism and terrorism.

Qatar categorically rejects attempts by western political and academic circles to equate terrorism and extremism as a phenomenon of human history with Islam as a religion, civilization, culture and heritage.

The phenomenon of terrorism and extremism in the world of today, he explained , is an expression of political tendencies that has relations whatever with religion. They must be dealt on the basis of this understanding so that they could be treated successfully.

He said it is the duty of Muslms and Arabs to exercise more efforts to improve the distorted image about the Arabs and Muslims. Others also need to rectify their deformed image about Arabs and Muslims, he said and called for investigating the roots of terrorism.

HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said that the State of Qatar strongly upholds the need to resolve disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the international law and renounces the use of force and other means of pressure and coercion, noting that Qatar has consistently advocated to enhance the status and role of the United Nations in international relations as the only global forum that embodies international legitimacy that govern the conduct of states.