KUALA LUMPUR: Leaders in Kuala Lumpur (KL) Summit devise a new plan to trade with each other in gold and barter system to avoid any future threat to Muslim countries. Malaysia, Turkey, Iran and Qatar devised this new plan for trading among themselves as a hedge against any future economic sanctions on them.
This was announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on conclusion of the Islamic summit in Malaysia,
Mahathir praised leaders of Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and said it was important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats, reported said.
“With the world witnessing nations making unilateral decisions to impose such punitive measures, Malaysia and other nations must always bear in mind that it can be imposed against any of us,” Mahathir said.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt had severed diplomatic and trade links with Qatar about 2-1/2-years ago over allegations that it backed terrorism, a charge Doha denied. Iran, meanwhile, has been hit badly after the United States reimposed sanctions on it last year. “I have suggested that we re-visit the idea of trading using the gold dinar and barter trade among us,” Mahathir said, referring to the Islamic medieval gold coin. “We are seriously looking into this and we hope that we will be able to find a mechanism to put it into effect.”
The leaders agreed they needed to do more business among themselves and trade in each other’s currencies. By the fourth and final day of the summit, no joint statement was released. The summit was expected to discuss major issues affecting the Muslims. Without naming any country, Mahathir said there was concern that Muslims in non-Muslim countries were forced to undergo assimilation. “We support integration but assimilation to the extent of shedding our religion is unacceptable,” he said. At a news conference, he called India’s new citizenship act unfortunate.
Meanwhile, a war of words has started between Turkey and Saudi Arabia — the two member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — following Pakistan’s non participation in the Malaysia-sponsored Islamic Summit in Kuala Lumpur. The war [of words] started after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Turkish media that Saudi Arabia had threatened Pakistan with sending back over 4 million Pakistan working there and re-employing Bangladeshi people besides withdrawing money deposited in the State Bank of Pakistan if it attended the Kuala Lumpur summit. He said Pakistan had to obey the Saudi demands because of its economic difficulties, and implied that Indonesia also suffered from similar problems.
Erdogan’s statement embarrassed Pakistan and its Foreign Office without naming Turkey in a late Friday night statement said, “Pakistan did not participate in the KL Summit, as time and efforts were needed to address the concerns of major Muslim countries regarding possible division in the Ummah.
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