EDITORIAL: Prime Minister Imran Khan made an impassioned speech at the 48th OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, but he didn’t really say much that practically every single member did not already know.
That the Muslim world, some of which is immensely rich and extremely well connected, has let the people of Kashmir and Palestine down very badly is a tale as old as time. And that year after year the only thing that this Organisation does is only bolster its reputation of being completely toothless doesn’t even bother too many of its members anymore. In fact, just about the only new thing they might have heard, this time from the Pakistani PM, is that it might be a smart idea for them to help end the Ukraine war.
Still, there were a number of novelties about this particular meeting that stood out. The world is indeed descending into a new ‘cold war’, just like the PM reminded everybody, and it will soon be split into different blocs once again. It would make a lot of sense, given the circumstances, for countries representing more than a billion Muslims to work towards a consensus on some of the core issues that confront them as well. That way the OIC would also get a chance to be effective, for once.
Yet PM Khan’s otherwise elaborate speech only barely touched upon why Muslim countries have failed to walk such fancy talk for so long. The war in Yemen, which was also briefly mentioned, is a fine example. Everybody knows what that is all about, and what magnitude of humanitarian catastrophe it has become. Still, there’s never been a concerted effort by brotherly Muslim countries to enforce a ceasefire.
Both Kashmiris and Palestinians have suffered terrible setbacks over the last few years yet there’s barely been a squeak from the so-called Ummah. Kashmiris lost their special status, on top of the occupation and the war crimes, and Palestinians saw more Muslim states go back on their word and recognise Israel. PM Khan ought to understand these things by now since he’s already had their bitter taste; when the dream of forming a strong front in partnership with Turkey and Malaysia went up in smoke after Saudi Arabia forbade him from going to the special summit. Back then he tried to wash it off by saying that he made the sacrifice in the larger interest of the Ummah.
But times have already changed. And he’s spot on in urging OIC to play a role in getting Muslim states to adopt some common policies. Like it or not, Russia’s war has upset not just the unipolar system that has ‘run’ the world since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also the international security arrangement that’s been in place since the second world war.
That’s why PM Khan’s biggest contribution at the Islamabad conference could well be making OIC as a whole realise that it faces a moment of reckoning. Some Muslim countries are home to all the wealth in the world yet others are the picture of destitution and starvation. Unless they synergise, the future is bleak for all of them. With OIC, there’s already a network in place to facilitate all sorts of partnerships. But it will have to change. And if PM Khan can make Pakistan the agent of that change, then more power to him.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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