ONE of Burnley's best-known political activists used Labour's Annual Party Conference in Blackpool to speak out over the issue of Iraq.

Shahid Malik, a former member of the Commission for Racial Equality and son of former Burnley Mayor Councillor Rafique Malik, told delegates in the seaside resort that 'doing nothing' was not an option to find peace.

He also said Labour's national executive committee had the same objectives as the people in this country.

Mr Malik also supported the role of the United Nations in the solution.

He said: "If we truly desire peace, then doing nothing is simply not an option. But the way forward is to work with our international partners, to build a coalition and a consensus within the framework of international law.

"The integrity and the credibility of the United Nations must not be undermined.

"There are those who point to double standards where the UN is concerned, I myself have done it for years, but this must not be allowed to continue if the nations and people of the world are to have faith and trust in the 21st century world order."

He said it had never been the case that Muslims and Arabs across the world were opposed to UN resolutions, but that they were opposed to the selective implementation of UN resolutions.