CAIRO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has recently established a high committee to counter sectarian clashes, chaired by his security and counter-terror advisor, with members of other military and intelligence authorities.
A general strategy will be laid down to stop and counter sectarian sedition, and followed by its implementation once a sad event of those clashes happen.
The committee held its first meeting days ago and stressed "the importance of citizenship rights, rule of law, activation of all legislations that counter discrimination and hatred crimes."
"The decision is good but what is more important is putting it in place as many laws have passed but not yet implemented," said Coptic Christian thinker Gamal Asaad.
He noted the committee was supposed to put an end to customary sessions and Byt Alayla (Family Home) in all cases without exceptions, including sheikhs and priests once held responsible for stirring up seditions, "anyone responsible must be brought before the court."
Egypt witnesses every now and then some sectarian clashes that take place due to building churches without permits.
Earlier, customary reconciliation sessions or Byt Alayla would be resorted to with representatives from Al Azhar and the Egyptian Church available to solve such mishaps.
"The committee can start moving before seditions take place and not after, to counter such events if they might happen," he said, adding "the committee has the right to call anyone from the government ministries to boost the intellectual and cultural presence in face of any mishaps."
"Everyone has to do his or her role in the committee and it will monitor the sectarian climate, visit villages that witness sectarian events and solve them through holding intellectual, cultural, educational meetings before the media," Asaad concluded.
Political science professor at Cairo University, Tareq Fahmy, said the establishment of the committee "is a good starting point ... it reflects the abilities of President Sisi's in supervision and meeting the demands of the Coptic Christians."
"The committee is a realistic and practical alternative to customary sessions in the face of sectarian seditions," he said, believing the committee will be responsible for a proactive strategy to deal with sectarian seditions, not reacting to them.
"I expect the committee will draw a map on which sectarian tension will be monitored and it will also deal with them through prior studies to deal with threats," according to Fahmy.
Spokesman for the Evangelical Church Ekram Lamie agreed that the formation of the committee to face sectarian sedition is "a very good decision," which is expected to have a more positive impact on developments on the ground than previous measures which "failed to address the roots of the problem."
"Sectarian sedition will not come to an end," Lamie said. "But there will be far less as the committee has all the state agencies that can locate hot areas and counter such events."
