Arab ministers of the interior, justice assert distinguishing between terrorism, armed struggle

The joint ministerial committee of the councils of Arab ministers of interior and justice asserted in a statement released after its meeting on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, its strong condemnation of terrorism.

It asserted the need to distinguish between terrorism and the right of peoples to armed struggle against foreign occupation and aggression as well as their right to self-determination and independence according to the principles and charters of UN resolutions.

In its decisions, the committee called on the Arab states to move actively and rapidly in order to expand the scale of work in the Arab anti-terrorism pact in order to fight terrorism in the Islamic and international arenas. The committee also decided to set up a technical committee to draw up a draft of the implementation measures for the agreement.

The concluding statement for the meeting expressed deep anxiety over developments concerning the phenomena of terrorism, from which the whole world suffers.

The committee urged the Arab states to reach bilateral agreements on combating terrorism with the foreign countries to monitor terrorists and extradite them to their countries.

At the conclusion of the committee's meetings, Syrian Minister of the Interior Muhammad Harba signed with Saudi Minister of the Interior Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz an agreement on cooperation between the two states in the area of fighting illegal drug trafficking or smuggling.

During the signing ceremony, the Syrian minister praised the remarkable relations linking the two states, due to the directives of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.

Syrian Minister of the Interior Muhammad Harba and Minister of Justice Hussein Hasoun took part in the first meeting of the joint ministerial committee of the two councils of the Arab ministers of justice and ministers of the interior in Jeddah in order to draw the mechanism for the implementation of the Arab anti-terrorism pact.

On Sunday, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz received the Arab ministers participating in the meeting. During the meeting, he asserted the importance of Arab solidarity and inter-Arab meetings.

The Saudi crown prince stressed the importance of acquainting the world with the Arab anti-terrorism pact and to give the true picture of Islam and Arabism.