Muslim chief exhorts Thai Muslims to take path of peace

Bangkok, June 28 (UNI) The Secretary General of the Muslim World League, who is visiting Thailand's troubled south today called on the majority Muslim residents of the border region not to be misled by those preaching violence in the name of religion.

In a speech at the Yala Islamic University in south Thailand, Dr Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki said Muslims living in multicultural societies must do so with understanding.

He was speaking on the topic ''Muslim duties in a multicultural society'' at the university where he was conferred an honorary doctorate in Islamic Law.

The Muslim World League chief is in Thailand at the invitation of the Thai government. He held meetings with Islamic religious leaders and local people in Pattani and Yala provinces to discuss the separatist violence.

Later, addressing a press conference with Thailand's Interior Minister Aree Wong-araya in Pattani, he stated the insurgency in south Thailand was not religious in nature.

He added that the perpetrators of violence claimed to be Islamic but their acts were taking the lives of Thais of all faiths.

Praising the Thai government's conciliatory approach to the insurgency, Dr Abdullah offered the Muslim World League's support in promoting real Islamic awareness that rejected violence.

About 2,300 people have been killed in separatist violence in Thailand's provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani bordering Malaysia over the past three and a half years. ( UNI