Muslim minorities should respect national laws: OIC chief

Bangkok, May 1 (UNI) Muslim minorities should respect the laws of the countries they live in and deserve equal treatment with the majority community, the head of the influential Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) told members of the faith here today.

On his first official visit to Thailand, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu met this afternoon with prominent Thai Muslim leaders to hear their views on the four-year-old separatist violence in the country's southern border region.

''We consider all Muslim minorities to be under the Ummah doctrine, but Muslims should also be good citizens and respect the laws of the countries they live in,'' the OIC chief told the Muslim leaders.

Asserting that Islam is ''a religion of moderation and peace'' and that it was wrong to link terrorism with Islam, Mr Ishanoglu said Muslims deserve the same rights as the rest of a country's population where they are a minority.

The OIC is satisfied with the Thai government's handling of the insurgency in Thailand's Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani and will support its efforts, he said.

More than 2,100 people have been killed since the eruption of separatist violence in early January 2004 in the three provinces that are also ethnically, linguistically and culturally different from Buddhist-majority Thailand.

The OIC chief called on Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram yesterday. He is scheduled to leave Thailand tomorrow.

UNI