Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development launched in Thailand

BANGKOK, August 20 (TNA) - The Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development, under the Sheikhul Islam Office, has been launched in Thailand. Thai Muslim Spiritual Leader Aziz Phitakkumpon presided over a ceremony to officially open Thailand's Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development at the Sheikhul Islam Office in Bangkok on Wednesday. Isara Santisart, Vice Chairman for Policy of the Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development Board, said that the newly-established institute was aimed to create the optimal balance in the Islamic religion in Thailand to end Islamic extremism, which has caused violent unrest in many parts of the world. Isara acknowledged that the Sheikhul Islam Office has pushed for including the ideas in education, both inside and outside classrooms, in order to encourage Thai Muslims, as the minority of people in Thailand, to live peacefully with others in the Thai society with multi-cultures and diversified beliefs, based on real moderate principles of Islam. (TNA)