The Kingdom has stood firm in fighting terrorism at home and drying it up of its resources, said Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior, in an exclusive interview on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack of May 2003 in Riyadh. The Ministry of Interior has taken stringent security measures to curb terrorism, and its financiers, preachers and supporters consolidating the Kingdom's definite stand against terror, he said. With active role and diligent efforts to combat terrorism propagated by the deviant group and its ideology, the Kingdom now stands out in its war on global terror, the minister said. The massive actions of the Kingdom to fight terrorism are continuing through close surveillance of suspected terrorists who have, misled some youths to sow terror in this holy land by their wrongful interpretation of Islam but the Kingdom stands committed to Islamic Shariah and maintain tight security and safety for all, he said. “Our beloved country has dedicated manpower to defend it under the wise leadership of King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan,” Prince Naif reiterated. Al-Qaeda paralyzed Al-Qaeda has been paralyzed, thanks to proactive security measures, he said. More than 180 potential terrorist attacks targeting the Kingdom have been foiled, he declared. “Had only 20 percent of these terrorist attacks materialized, it would have been a disaster in the country, but Allah is our protector,” he said. The Saudi people have always been ardent supporters of their government to combat terrorism, joining hands with the security forces to keep the country safe, he said. “We believe that the citizen is the first security man of his country even if he is not directly engaged in military confrontations with the terrorists,” he added. Funding of Al-Qaeda But where does the terrorist funding comes from? “It is a two-pronged funding operation: one goes directly to the terrorists to cover the expenses of their attacks in the Kingdom and the second goes outside the Kingdom to cover training and terrorist attacks overseas,” he said. “The source of funding might be coming from financiers in the Kingdom, who are as criminal as the terrorists themselves,” he said. Counseling program The Kingdom has launched an ambitious counseling program to combat violent extremist sympathies through innovative prisoner re-education and rehabilitation program designed for detained terrorists and the returnees from Guantanamo and Iraq. This program has included sophisticated hearts and minds campaign consisting of a combination of state-sponsored education programs, coordinated public relations and media efforts and the deployment of considerable religious resources to remove religious misgivings and misinterpretations. The Kingdom has received international accolades for its efforts in combating terrorist ideology through this counseling program. Security of thinking is of paramount importance with the responsibility falling on scholars, intellectuals and educational institutions, Prince Naif said. He said he felt it was working to help reach “a well-defined national strategy of thinking devoid of terrorism. The strategy is planned to eradicate extremist thinking from the minds of the misled youth,” he said. Prince Naif said that deviant thinking only serves the enemies of the country, urging citizens to shun away from the slightest thought of entrenching violent ideology or supporting it. He asked the intellectuals in the country to play an effective role to combat extremist thinking. The Media Prince Naif urged the media to mount a far more aggressive, swift and nontraditional information campaign to counter the messages of extremist and terrorist groups. The media have to take a leading and influential part to cleanse the minds of the youth of extremist ideology so as not to fall an easy prey to terrorism, he said. “The Ministry of Culture and Information should put fighting terrorism a priority through TV programs hosting renowned religious scholars and intellectuals to counter terrorist ideology,” he said. Satellite channels which reach far more audience than newspapers should launch more initiatives focused on fighting terrorism, he said. “Security of thinking is achieved only when all of us do their jobs to the best of their ability to counter terrorism,” he said. “I firmly believe that our religious scholars are capable of preaching the true Islamic teachings that condemn all forms of extremism, proving that extremist ideology has nothing to do with Islamic Shariah,” he said. “It is unfortunate that these deviant Muslims have worked against Islam by their extremist activities. Part of them are misled and the others have sold themselves to the devil,” Prince Naif added. Prince Naif stressed the role of the family in protecting children from being swept into unfortunate consequences of extremism. “Deviant ideology is like a virus that spreads to hurt others who are not immunized,” he said. “If a family can't shoulder the responsibility of protecting its children and guiding them to the right path, I think, the government will,” he said. “It is better than letting them go astray hurting themselves and others for no benefit here or in the hereafter,” he added. Prince Naif praised the security men who were killed in military confrontations with terrorists for sacrificing their lives while defending their religion and country. He said that they were firm believers in Allah with their faith driving them to combat terrorism. Since they had joined the security forces, they knew that they were serving Islam and their holy land, and their fellow citizens, he concluded. – Okaz. __
