Terrorism is outcome of cultural misinterpretation; Iran speaker

Terrorism in the region is the outcome of cultural misinterpretation, said Iran's Majlis (Parliament) speaker in the Pakistani capital on Sunday.

Ali Larijani, addressing a conference on challenges and threats of terrorism, held in Islamabad on Sunday, described terrorism as the calamity of the mankind and said, extremism and supports provided by intelligence services constitute main factors aiding promotion of the phenomenon.

'A look at the historical development of terrorism reveals that it has developed in the world because of different reasons,' Larijani said.

'But the birthplace of terrorism we are discussing here in this conference is in the region,' he added.

Addressing the conference, Larijani tried to give an analytical explanation of the roots and outcomes of the terrorism which has affected the region recently.

Terrorism in the region has its roots in cultural misinterpretations, the Iranian Majlis speaker said.

'Over the past 30 years, the simple-minded and uninformed people in the region have been exposed to a special ideology to channelize their religious interests, impelling them toward some kind of insurgency,' Larijani said.

'No doubt, in the Islamic ideology fighting oppression, exploitation and the arrogant powers constitute a principle, but the extremist religious ideology possessed by the Wahhabis, diverted their path to embark on fratricide instead,' he said.

'This is while,' Larijani added, 'killing a single oppressed person, based on the ideology of Islam is equal to the end of humanity.'

Some of these people are really of the view that by conducting terrorist activities they are engaged in Jihad striving in the way of Allah, the Iranian Parliament speaker said.

'But the Islamic Jihad has its own rules and regulations, and it is aimed at confronting oppression, exploitation and the arrogant powers, not killing and beheading innocent people and destroying holy places belonged to other religions,' Larijani said.

END