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‘Majority of France doesn’t equate Islam with terror’

* French ambasador says Musharraf’s actions are the best way to defend the image of Islam

ISLAMABAD French Ambassador to Pakistan Pierre Charasse said on Monday that the majority of people in France do not equate Islam with terrorism and only a small minority of extremists holds these views.
He said President Musharraf’s commitment to the fight against extremism and terrorism and his defence of a moderate Islam was extremely positive. In an interview, the ambassador said that Mr Musharraf’s actions were the best way to defend the image of Islam around the world.
He said that practically nobody in France thought that Islam could be equated with terrorism, however, due to a very small minority of extremists, the risk of a misperception about Islam did exist. He hoped that President Musharraf’s actions in Pakistan would have visible and concrete results.
Mr Charasse said that France as a nuclear power was taking every measure to prevent proliferation and would fight against nuclear trafficking.
President Chirac proposed a special session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and asked the European Union (EU) to address proliferation. When asked how optimistic France was about the forthcoming talks between Pakistan and India and the lingering Kashmir dispute, Mr Charasse said that the recent developments in Indo-Pak relations were extremely positive. He said that France maintained a political dialogue with both India and Pakistan and encouraged all efforts to promote peace, stability and development in South Asia. About the views of France on the issues of Iraq and Afghanistan, he said that French and the Pakistani views on Iraq had been very close. Mr Charasse said that France and Pakistan shared the belief that Afghanistan should recover from years of war to take back its place in the international community without any foreign interference.
He said that Pakistan was a non-permanent member of the UNSC and that France and Pakistan continued to have an excellent cooperation on most of the issues under debate in the UN. About the prospects of increasing defence ties, he said that bilateral military cooperation was already well developed and stable but some exercises at sea could be undertaken, whenever ships were available in the Indian Ocean.
He said that both the countries had a high-level dialogue when President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali visited France last year and the French Foreign minister just had visited Pakistan at the end of February. About the resentment shared by many Muslims around the world over the ban of headscarves in France, he said that the new law targeted not only Muslim headscarves but also every other conspicuous religious sign. The ban would be applied only in public schools, for children up to around 18 years of age.
There was no question of banning any religious signs in private schools, universities, and other public places, he said.
He said that the French tradition was not against religions, but aimed at promoting integration and wanted schools to stay neutral places, where the children must be preserved against discrimination and pressure. Ambassador Charasse joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972. He had served in different capacities in a number of countries and speaks Spanish, English, Italian, Russian and Bulgarian. app

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