The Foreign Ministry yesterday hosted the conference of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) which turned out into a shambles of ineptitude, incompetency and mismanagement.

The gathering, which was convened within the framework of the world conference against discrimination and racism, turned out to be a practicing exponent of discrimination itself, since only certain organizations with explicitly approved political inclinations were invited to the conference.

A member of the Women's Association of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ma'soumeh Mohammadi, called the conference shameful and its organization an affront and insult to the Islamic values of our country.

The TEHRAN TIMES has ascertained that the Islamic code of dress for women was not fully observed. Some of the Iranian participants, in a bid to seem modern and westernized, undermined the values and teachings of our great religion through their actions and words. Furthermore, all the Iranian participants, to their shame, sat and listened in silence to one of the speakers who said Islam has infiltrated the world like a devil!

At the start of the conference, the Qoran was not recited, and the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was replaced by the rendition of an old national song.

These deplorable events clearly illustrate the inefficiency and insufficiency of some of our high-ranking government officials, who are totally insensitive to our values and norms and whose actions deal a serious blow to the image of the Islamic Revolution.

The deputy foreign minister for research and educational matters is directly responsible for this outrage. The foreign minister should consider wether to allow this deputy to continue with his diplomatic services.