Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A peacekeeping force with troops from Islamic countries under a UN mandate should be deployed in Iraq to stabilise the country is one of the proposals made yesterday, the first day of the 34th annual summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) now underway in Islamabad, Pakistan.

In his opening speech to the three-day conference, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf urged the representatives of the 57 member-states to reform the OIC to stop the Islamic world from sliding into obscurantism compared to the West.

“We must face the fact that the disparity with the Western world is increasing, not decreasing,” General Musharraf said. “We have to reject extremism and terrorism and go on the path of socio-economic development,” he added, calling for the organisation to be restructured into a “futuristic and dynamic” player in world affairs.

Musharraf, whose sincerity in fighting terrorism has been questioned, is currently under considerable pressures from different fronts. On the one hand, he has been harshly criticised for removing from office Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on false corruption charges; on the other, a suicide bomber killed 25 people in Peshawar, not far from the border with Afghanistan.

The conference in the Pakistani capital, which ends tomorrow, will also deal with an array of issues ranging from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the strife in Somalia and Afghanistan to the conflict over Jammu and Kashmir and the peace process between India and Pakistan.

The conference is also expected to express support in its final communiqué for Iran’s right to develop its civilian nuclear programme.