The Muslim-West relations - the way forward

5.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 13th May 2006

The delegates in the UK-Pakistan talks

Today we had the last dialogue in Islamabad. It was the dialogue to start making conclusions, but as the Pakistani participants were different (as there were every day) we had to rehash all four previous discussions first. We almost got derailed over stoning again, but managed to avoid it.

Example dialouge in the UK-Pakistan talks

The level of discussion today was probably one of the best (I think it has got better every day). We discussed how both countries can improve education - maybe with our two eduction departments working together and increased teaching about Islam in the UK and about the UK in Pakistan. We discussed ways that poverty could be eradicated and how democracy can be improved including accepting results you do not like (Hammas as an example) and how Kashmir should be given a referendum on its future status and human rights violations are tackled. We also discussed how better understanding and tolerance could occur and how to tackle the media.

We also talked about how this project and the process could be continued. We are committed to talking to our parties, governments and the media to see what can be done - more on this later.