Moroccan Islamist parties to soften stance?

A majority of Moroccans, while having firm religious convictions, don't want a fundamentalist Islamic government. The religious political parties are aware of this and appear to be softening their position. In a notable step, the Islamist PJD (Party of Justice and Development) has ruled out any act that harms the public order or the country's stability and institutions.

PJD Secretary General, Saadeddine Othmani told the Moroccan News Agency in reference to the dismantling of the Jamaât Ansar Al Mehdi terrorist group, that no "Moroccan political party and no patriot citizen would tolerate their country's security and stability be harmed".

He said he deems that terrorism has turned into a global plague and that national mobilizing is needed to face the phenomenon, whose "expansion mechanisms are for the most part of foreign origin."

The PJD SG recalled that King Mohammed VI had in the wake of the terrorist attacks of May 16, 2003, insisted on the need to dealt globally with the cultural, religious, economic, social and security aspects of the phenomenon.

Othmani observed that tackling the security aspect would not be enough to deal with terrorism, which requires pooling all efforts to eradicate the plague.

PJD member, Mustapha Ramid, said for his part he would not comment on the case, for he did not know anything of the dossier, yet.

The PJD was founded by Dr. Abdelkrim Al Khatib an old politician known for his close ties with the Monarchy, under the name of MPDC (Mouvement populaire démocratique et constitutionnel). The party was an empty shell for many years, until various members of a clandestine association Chabiba islamia, who later formed the MUR ( Mouvement unité et réforme) joined the party, with the authorisation and encouragement of former interior minister Driss Basri. It changed its name to PJD in 1998, this name was probably inspired by the Turkish Justice and Development Party.

It should be noted however that the Moroccan PJD is much less liberal and modern than the Turkish PJD, although a very slow modernisation process is going on.

At the other end of the scale are groups like Jamaât Ansar Al Mehdi

On August 11, Moroccan police moved against nine people, including five servicemen, in relation to Jamaât Ansar Al Mehdi and its intention t0 wage Jihad (religious war) in Morocco.

The police investigating the case claim that a man named Yassine El Ouerdini was entrusted by Hassan El Khattab with the armed branch of the group, and was planning to open training camps, identify and rob finance institutions and to attack military and civilian targets.

Meanwhile, Mustapha Kimid, Director of the Al Ahdath Al Maghribia daily Rabat office, confirmed his newspaper received terrorist threats warning to stop running stories on the Ansar Al Mehdi terrorist group.

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news