- An organisation that only passes resolutions
In his maiden address at OIC’s Mecca summit, Prime Minister Imran Khan underlined the issue of Islamophobia and the need on the part of the OIC to make the West differentiate between moderate Muslims and extremist Muslims. He maintained that the international community had to be persuaded to respect the feelings of more than one billion Muslims. Mr Khan also advised the Muslim world to pay more attention to science and technology, ensure quality education and set up universities of international standards.
The OIC did what it always does. It passed a resolution to hand over the issue of Islamophobia to the United Nations “and other international and regional organisations” calling on them to adopt March 15 as the International Day against Islamophobia. As for as the OIC was concerned the matter ended there.
Mr Khan has apparently yet to realise that Muslim countries with economic clout are least interested in developing science and technology or setting up centres of excellence in learning. They prefer importing the hi-tech goods they need from the West. Among other things, they acquire billions of dollars’ worth of the latest weapons to sort out regional rivals as well as the latest riot control equipment to put down domestic protests launched by civil rights activists whom the rulers call terrorists.
PM Imran Khan also underlined the plight of the people of Kashmir and Palestine. Some of the powerful members of the OIC enjoy good relations with India. As usual the Kashmir issue was neatly handed over to the Kashmir Contact Group of the OIC to avoid embarrassment to these countries. A resolution on Palestine had to be passed by the OIC, despite the growing relations of some of its member states with Israel, because of the fear of the Arab street and the pressure exerted by several Muslim countries that also include Turkey, Pakistan and Iran.
The OIC projects itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world” that works to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim community in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony. In order to maintain its inclusive character, any attempt to use the forum against a member country has to be strongly discouraged.
