Senin, 10 Desember 2012

MUSLIM WOMEN URGED TO BE ADVOCATES OF PEACE

Story &Picture: Zainabu Issah
AN Executive Member of the Islamic Peace and Security Council (IPASEC) Hajia Barikisu Shardow has advised Muslim women to be advocates of peace wherever they found themselves by starting with their children at home and instilling discipline in them.

She said the basic principle of Islam was about peace hence it was unfair for Muslim children to be perceived as violent.

She made the call during a sensitisation seminar for Muslim women in Accra on Friday. The seminar, organised in collaboration with the Danish Embassy formed part of IPASEC peace project dubbed, “Ensuring Violence Free 2012 Election in Zongo Communities in Greater Accra Region.”

 Hajia Shardow pointed out that elections were only conducted to choose a leader for the country but not to wage war, adding that everyone in the country was entitled to be affiliated to a political party of his or her choice and also agree and disagree on issues but that should not constitute the basis for election violence.

“It is time that we as Muslim women and mothers decide what our children would be used for rather than see them as tools for election violence,” she said.

The Executive Secretary of IPASEC, Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osaman also called on Muslim women to effectively play their role of ensuring a violent free election especially in the Zongo communities.
Participants at the seminar in a pose with the Executive Secretary of IPASEC, Alhaji Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osaman (In white hat), in Accra.

He recalled that in countries such as Liberia, Serra Leone, and Rwanda, women were raped, killed, and sometimes made cooks for soldiers because of the violence that erupted after election.

He said some women were left to cater for their children alone without the support of their husbands because they were either killed or forced to pick up arms to fight in civil wars.

Alhaji Osaman, therefore said it was important that women advised their children about the need to avoid being used as “weapons of mass destruction”, adding that women and children were the most vulnerable during violence hence the need to protect them in any way possible.

In attendance to were the Ansarudeen Tinjaniyya Muslim Women Movement, Imams, Chiefs and some leaders of youth groups.

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