Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, said in a press statement following Sunday's opening of the conference on terrorism here that 200 terrorist plots had been foiled by the security services. “The top priority for the security services is to prevent terrorist attacks, and that has been achieved praise be to Allah,” Prince Naif said. “Over 200 cases have been uncovered, and not just that but the persons behind them have also been arrested and are now in the hands of justice.” The four-day conference titled “Terrorism between Extremism of Thought and Thoughts of Extremism” organized by Madina's Islamic University and the Ministry of Interior, and Prince Naif's opening address was followed by a question-answer session in which he responded to a question on women by describing their “considerable” role as “undeniable”. “Women are the protectors of everything in the home,” he said. “They watch over the behavior of their sons and daughters and their ideas, and they are an assistance to their husbands in bringing up children of sound behavior and thought.” Women also have a part to play in correcting their children's ideas, he said. “If they are corrected, then praise be to Allah, but if not, the state is there to care for all its sons and daughters, and they can be placed in safe hands to try and correct them,” he said. Prince Naif said that the Program of Guidance has yielded positive results and has also won admiration of security authorities in various countries. Prince Naif also made appeals to the Saudi media, which he said could make greater efforts to face up to the reality of a modern and influential media in which all its forms have gained in importance, “particularly the Internet”. “We need more work and more capability in our media, with commitment and responsibility toward the reader, viewer, and listener. This, unfortunately, is what we are lacking, and it's as if we only focus on the material benefit in publishing certain ideas and contentions which are of no benefit, in order to attract advertisers,” he said. “This is not right for us primarily as Muslims adhering to the Qur'an and the Sunnah and the interest of the country.” Prince Naif added that criticism is welcome, “but constructive, objective criticism based on facts”. “This is an age of knowledge, and just as specialists in medicine are sought in medical matters, then when writing on matters of creed there's all the more reason to consult those who are qualified in that area of knowledge,” he said. Launching the conference earlier, Prince Naif described the event as not seeking to highlight the dangers of deviant thought, as “we all know this from our knowledge and understanding of the teachings and principles of Islam”. Instead, he said, he hoped that it would achieve a “scholarly vision that will contribute, Allah willing, to efforts to deal with extremist thought and protect the individual and the Ummah from its dangers”. The conference is hosting 12 sessions addressing four main topic areas: “The Founding and Feeding of Extremism”; “Sources of Extremist Thought”; “Dangers and Effects of Terrorism”, and the “Intellectual Treatment of Extremism and Terrorism”, through over 80 research papers which will be discussed by scholars and specialists in combating terrorism around the world. In his speech, Kingdom's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh said that the teachings of Islam are based on moderation. He said that the Kingdom - which has also suffered from terrorism - has exerted great efforts in combating this menace including holding of this conference under the auspices of Prince Naif. Princess Adela Bint Abdullah, daughter of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, highlighted the role of families in the upbringing of youth. The princess praised women for their role in inculcating values of tolerance in their children.
