Musharraf on Middle East Plans

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KLR80068.htm

By Jalil Hamid

THE MINES, Malaysia, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf lobbied the head of the Islamic world's largest grouping on Thursday to back his idea for Muslim nations to come up with a new Middle East peace initiative.

Musharraf, who began his diplomatic push with a surprise visit to Indonesia on Wednesday, met Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), later that night and again on Thursday.

Later, both men spoke in support of the idea of bringing Muslim nations together to come up with a new approach to ending the violence in the Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

"This is a process of consultation towards a fresh initiative," said Musharraf, whose trip to two of Asia's biggest Muslim nations was wrapped in secrecy and surprisingly light security.

"There's no harm in adopting a new approach and trying for success," he added. "At the moment ... things are deteriorating, worsening. What one can try is to convert this downward slide towards upward momentum, towards resolution of disputes."

Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999, is seeking to take the lead in Middle East diplomacy and bolster his international standing in the run-up to a general election due sometime between November and January 2008.

But in travelling to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and to Malaysia he was taking more than political risks: Musharraf is a target for Islamist militants and has survived at least three assassination attempts since he brought Pakistan into the U.S.-led war on terrorism in 2001.

NEW STRATEGIES

Malaysia's premier said he hoped Musharraf's efforts would lead to a meeting of Muslim nations where the causes of Middle East conflicts could be discussed and new strategies devised.

But Abdullah noted that, so far, efforts within the OIC, which groups 57 Muslim nations, as well as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Arab League had failed to bring about an improvement in the Middle East's hot spots.

"The situation continues to be at a stage of great concern for us and violence seems to escalate instead of stopping," said Abdullah, standing beside Musharraf at a hotel south of Kuala Lumpur. Both men looked relaxed, wearing batik shirts.

"It is my hope, as it is his hope, that we will be able to meet in a bigger group and examine further the causes and the reasons and whatever that is associated with the Middle East situation," Abdullah added.

Musharraf is pushing himself toward the front row of Middle East diplomacy at a time when his ally, U.S. President George W. Bush, is politically weakened, his Iraq and Middle East policies under attack within a Democrats-controlled Congress.

Musharraf has not elaborated on the grouping of "like-minded" Muslim nations he is trying to assemble, although he has said King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was also being consulted.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said after meeting the Pakistani leader on Wednesday that, to achieve peace in the Middle East, "we need to achieve greater dialogue and consultation and a role of like-minded Islamic countries".

He added that Indonesia would hold an international meeting of Muslim clerics to discuss conflicts in the Islamic world.

Last week, a Jakarta official said Indonesia wanted to hold a special meeting with Hamas this year aimed at helping end internal rifts between the Palestinian ruling group and other factions. Yudhoyono made no mention of this on Wednesday.