Morocco's Islamic party is far cry from extremism, party leader

Secretary general of the Party of Justice and Development (PJD- in parliament), sole Islamic party in Morocco, said the discourse of the party does not reflect any form of extremism.

Saadeddine Othmani, who was guest to a show in the Moroccan national television (TVM), said the PJD is a moderate party that is attached to the values of tolerance and rejects all forms of fanaticism and violence.

Othmani, 48, who took over the leadership of the Islamic party in replacement of the party's founder, 84 year-old Dr Abdelkrim Al Khatib, said the party will remain faithful to its strategy based on the nation's constant foundations, namely the respect of Islam, national unity and the constitutional monarchy.

Othmani said his party is ready to cooperate with all political parties and representatives of the civil society. He pointed out that PJD "exists to accomplish its mission both in opposition or within the government."

He did not rule out the possibility for his party to be in the government "should conditions for coalition with other political parties" be gathered

Othmani denied that the PJD is a copy of a foreign party, insisting that his party aims at "highlighting its own experience" based on the nation's constant foundations and benefiting from other experiences through the establishment of relations with foreign parties.

On the recent reforms in Morocco, Othmani described the creation of the committee of Equity and Reconciliation, in charge of pursuing out-of-court settlement of human rights abuses committed in the past, as "an important and courageous step" to turn the page of the past. He said this "new model" reflects the unique Moroccan experience in human rights and democracy.

PDJ's secretary general called for reforming justice to guarantee a "fair and independent justice," deploring that the government has been dragging feet in this issue.

Evoking the PJD's participation in last September 12 local elections, he said his party has made a "courageous" decision by "deliberately" reducing the number of candidacies. He added that members of the party had been subject to "pressure" in many provinces during the elections, which had a negative impact on their participation.

The Party for Justice and Development won 593 seats in the local elections. Othmani had deemed the results "honorable" compared to the low number of the PJD candidacies.