64. The Oic Phinominen

274 Emporium Current Essays IniTriir® OIC The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) since its inception has apparently been scrambling for the protection of Muslims all over the world. However, whether the OIC has lived up to the very expectations and objectives for which it was created, remains an elusive question. The preliminary aim of setting up this organisation was to provide a platform to Muslims countries from where they could take initiatives for their weal. In other words, the organisation was to play a role of a watchdog concerned with the rights and integrity of Muslim countries the world over. Unfortunately, the Organisation of Islamic Countries has yet to deliver the goods. As chronic issues like Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnya are still eyeing for OIC benevolence. The reasou as to why the OIC has not come out with a clear-cut stance on these issues, still remains enshrouded in mystery. If these issues are supposed to be taken up by international bodies other than the OIC, then of what use is this Islamic organisation?. The OIC was established to focus upon the restoration of national rights of the Palestinian people which had been usurped by the Zionist movement. The OIC expressed its support for the Palestinians and their representatives, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), because this was declared as our duty 4>y the Islamic concept of Ummah. The OIC also decided to declared-Jihad s an obligation of every Muslim man or woman as ordained by the Shariah and the glorious traditions of Islam. The Rabat summit, the firs-: ever OIC moot in 1969, was not a fortuitous or casual event, because- it was brought about as a passionate Reaction to the sactilegious arson at Al-Aqsa mosque committed by the Israelis on 21 August of 1969. The desecration of the first Qibia and the third most venerated place for the Muslims sent a shock wave throughout the Islamic work! -f;/ ' The first resolution adopted at Rabat was eloquent in its declaration of goal* of the Muslim Ummah. "They shall consult together with a view to promoting between themselves close cooperation and mutual assistance in the economic, scientific, cultural and spiritual fields, inspired by the immortal teachings of Islam." The second resolution proclaimed an aim of co-operation of the Islam world with the United Nations Organisation for the Emporium Current Essays

275 enhancement of pe;ice and progress. The other three resolutions pertained to the killing fields of Palestine, declared the Israelis to be cruel and cowardly interlopers engaged in a genocide of the Muslims, as they were perpetrating inhumar, deeds which had torn to shreds the moral fabric of human society in the 20th century. The Rabat summit however did not take due account of the killing fields of Kashmir. After Che Rabat summit the first foreign minister conference of Islamic states met in Jkddah on March 23-25 of 1970, and established a permanent Ishunic Secretariat with its headquarters at Jeddah, Abdur Rchmua was named as the first Secretary General for three years. Carcass was the venue for the second Islamic foreign ministers moot held in December 26-28 of 1970. It declared its full support for the government and the people of Guinea in West Africa aga'»,ist Portuguese aggression. The proposal to establish an Islamk Development Bank was put forward at Carcass which wa« finally implemented in December 1973. The third conference of foreign ministers was held in Jeddah on March 1-5 of 1972, which adopted a charter proclaiming that the conference of Islamic countries would have a Ministerial Council and arrange Islamic summits. A Secretary General was also to he appointed in orcier to perform the executive functions. ; The fourth conference of foreign ministers of Islamic states was held on March 27 of 1973, at the Libyan capital of Bingazi. The Bingazi conference is memorable for pointing to the sad plight of the Pakistani POWs in India and calling upon the UN Secretary General to secure their release. The said summit also called for an end to oppression of Muslims of the Philippines Twenty one conferences of Muslim foreign ministers have been taken place so far. The most recent one was held in Carcass on 25-29 April of 1993, while the 6th extraordinary session of the Islamic conference of foreign ministers was held in September 1994, in Islamabad. This time, the ICFM took some very important decisions. It called for an immediate solution to the Kashmir issue. It also considered and vowed to restore the conflict once and for all. This moot also decided to set up a contact group to help resolve the conflict in Kashmir. The said contact group met se\ eral times but its meetings only proved an exercise in futility and the participants could not come out with pragmatic steps to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, the OIC response towards this Muslim predicament has been most disappointing. . 276 Emporium Current Essays Emporium Current Essays 277

The 2nd Islamic summit was held in Lahore on February 22-23 of 1974. An unprecedented number of 37 Islamic countries attended this summit. Prior to the summit meeting itself, a committee of 17 foreign ministers of Islamic states drew up the summit agenda. They represented Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the PLO, Saudi Arabia, Senega!, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The Lahore summit focused mainly on the problem of the Islamic countries in the Middle East. International diplomatic activity by the Secretary General of the Islamic Secretariat, Mr. Hasan AH Tohami, resulted in the participation of ihe Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rchman. The astute Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto announced in the summit meeting that Pakistan accorded official recognition to an independent and sovereign Bangladesh. The Lahore summit was declared a complete success and the then UN Secretary General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, felicitated the Pakistani Prime Minister over the notable success of the moot. The Lahore summit seemed a success, and Mr, Bhutto had indeed stolen the show. But aftermath of that moot proved of injurious consequence and played a pivotal role in dislodging Mr. Bhutto, from the political scene. The Lahore summit had been a historic event but owing to inconsistencies and lack of mutual coordination among the member states the core resolutions are yet to be implemented. The 3rd summit was held in Saudi Arabia on 25-28 January of 1981. Makkah and Taif were designated as the official venues. This summit, as usual, undertook some important issues for discussion but nothing came out of them. Likewise, the.4th summit which was held at Casablanca also failed to be effective. The conference took lace on 16-19 January of 1984. However, Pakistan's President Ziaul Haq delivered an extempore speech and indeed the audiences were spell-bound. A pin-drop silence was witnessed during Gen. Zia's speech which provided a future line of action to the member states. Ai^The 5th summit, which was hosted by Kuwait in 1987, was quite significant and a number of burning issues were discussed in detail. The Kuwait summit was attended by al! the members except Iran which boycotted the conference. The other notable absentees were General Suharto, of Indonesia, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, King Hasan Of Morocco, and Colonel Muammar Qadhafi. The Iran-Iraq had war had continued since the 4th summit in Casablanca. In the 5th summit, it was expected that some realistic steps will be taken to solve the issues. The conference of the Islamic H. foreign ministers held in January 1986, could not adopt any resolution or even formulate an appeal on the subject because of widely divergent views held within the organisation. Regarding the Afghanistan issue, there was little realisation that the withdrawal of Soviet forces had little to do with either Pakistan or Iran.

The Syrian President Al-Assad was the only person who brought the Muslim options regarding international conflicts to the forefront in a daring manner when he lambasted Egypt for signing the Camp David Accord. Undaunted, Assad asserted the accord had brought nothing but shame to the Muslim Ummah. The 6th Islamic summit which was held at Senegal in 1991 was deemed as the most significant gathering since the Islamic summit at Lahore. The Lahore summit had been convened after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and the Dakar summit too met after an equally gigantic development of the Gulf war. For the first time, the Presidents of Indonesia, Iran and Turkey participated in the OIC summit. Another prominent feature of the Dakar summit was the Iran-Saudi Arabian rapprochement. The 7th Islamic summit met on 13-14 December 1994, in Casablanca, and hence adopted an unanimous resolution affirming the universal rights to self determination in accordance with the UN Secretary Council resolution. This summit condemned violations of human rights in occupied Kashmir and reiterated that India must stop carnage in the Valley. The appeal of Ms Benazir Bhutto for collective security of the Islamic bloc and formation of an experts group seemed plausible. Pakistan should have kept advocating this idea even after the summit. But hats off to political instability in our country that obviously impedes materialisation of such ideas. The 7th summit also adopted a draft resolution no: 7/-P(IS), recalling the Simla accord signed between the governments of Pakistan and India that calls for a peaceful settlement of the Jammu & Kashmir issue. This resolution also expressed concern over an alarming increase in the indiscriminate use of force and gross violations of human rights committed against innocent Kashmiris. The 7th summit also recalled the report of the OIC fact finding mission on the Kashmir situation following its visit to Azad Jammu & Kashmir in February 1993 and regretted that the human rights situatiois in the held Valley still remained grave. The resolution also regretted that the OIC fact finding mission was no longer allowed to visit held Kashmir. Certain other resolutions were also adopted. Most of them were pertaining to Indian held Jammu and Kashmir. At that very summit, Mr. Waiz Mohammad Umcr Farooq and some APHC leaders were also present. 278 Emporium Current Essays The OIC does have some achievements to its credit. The OIC has done a lot in the promotion of economic, cultural and scientific co-operation among the member states. For this purpose, the OIC had constituted various sub-bodies to look into different fields. The Islamic Development Bank is functioning. The Bank has partially financed a number of joint ventures amongst these Muslim countries. The QIC's aim to set up universities and Islamic centres is also s step in the right direction. The activities of Jcddah based IFSTAD and Islamabad based OIC centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture are also laudable in this respect. Most important of OI.C subsidiaries in this regard is the Islamic Academy of Jurisprudence. But still there are many fields where the OIC needs precise concentration. The importance of the maritime sector, which plays a ^tal role in the

development of the countries, has so far been neglected by the OIC. More than 90 percent of trade in Islamic countries is carried on via foreign ships. Again 90 percent of this trade goes by the sea. In spite of the OIC having been in existence for well over a quarter of century, very little progress has been made in the field of maritime co-operation, In the field of agriculture, there are also several limitations that have yrt to be overcome, A three day meeting of Islamic agricultural ministers which was held in Ankara in 1981, under the aegis of the OIC. which adopted a plan to alleviate food shortage in poor member states. Representatives from 29 Islamic countries resolved to seek ways and means to set up special food stocks within the organisation and also encourage agricultural products trade. The aim of this decision was to make the Islamic countries self reliant in the food sector. But the commitments were not compiled with. Likewise, in the fields of culture and science, there has net been any significant development. In September 1993, a three day 6th meeting of QIC's standing committee on science and technology iCOMESTECH) was held in Islamabad/The then acting President of Pakistan Wasim Sajjad laid special emphasis on promotion of technology in Pakistan. However, more concerted efforts are. needed to transform dreams into reality. So far, it looks as if the OIC has not perceived the gravity of the situation confronting the Islamic bloc. A split amongst the member states provides an open opportunity to anti-Islamic forces to exp! jit this situation. The current Islamabad summit is being held under a onepoint agenda i.ev-'Takmgihe Muslim world into the 21st Century'. When Kashmir is bleeding, the Afghan imbroglio continues to be a flash point, the Chechens' ordeal is not yet over, the Palestinian continued to suffer under Israeli aggression and the Bosnian Emporium Current Essays 279 Muslims are struggling for survival, this one point agenda seems ridiculous. The Deputy Secretary General of the OFC in his recent statement said that Kashmir won't be discussed during the summit, what to talk of these other issues. The Islamabad summit, is likely to be attended by a!i member states. The government of Pakistan has made elaborate arrangements to make this historic event a total success. But it must be realised that merely organising another moot would not serve the purpose. The primary issue for the government of Pakistan will be to woo the other members states for a debate on issues like Kashmir, which otherwise is unlikely to be taken up. The upcoming OIC summit which is in fact an extraordinary session will certainly prove an acid test of the newly inducted foreign minister Gohar Ayah Khan. Gohar Ajub Khan in his recent interview, while deliberating upon the pros and cons of the moot, said that Kashmir may not be discussed during the one day session and it may he discussed at the regular session of the OIC which is to be held later this year in Iran, However, if the Islamabad declaration is made public without any mention of the Kashmir issue, it will

without an iota of doubt, provide the opposition with a chance to take the government and the foreign minister to task. Summing up, the Islamabad declaration should be in consonance with the wishes of the people of the Islamic world and it should come out with a bold and cLsr-cut siance on the Kashmir issue. If the OIC has been criticised for its "foliies' it has only itself to blame for this criticism. The Islamabad declaration shouid contain a tangible solution to this burning issue of Kashmir. Also, the question of how to expand the ambit of co-operation in economics, cultural and scientific fields shouid also be a hallmark of this declaration. J