The foremost task to which the Commission of Eminent Persons from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has given priority is the challenge of democracy, and it is devising recommendations for giving "a say to the people in determining their destiny and affairs of state". The other challenges the Commission is addressing are defence of Islam, development of society through education, economic progress, poverty alleviation and youth empowerment, and also ensuring a voice for the OIC at the international forum and urging its representation in the restructured United Nations.
Talking to Business Recorder after the plenary session addressed by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Saturday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar said that the Commissioners were to complete their report before rising for the day.
He said after the recommendations are finalised, these would be circulated among the members and will be taken up at the 23rd Foreign Ministers' Council scheduled to meet in Sana'a (Yemen) next month. Their final report, he added, would be presented to the 'Extraordinary Summit' meeting in Makkah in November.
Hamid, who presides over the OIC Council of Ministers currently, said that the OIC Commissioners were formulating recommendations for reform and restructuring of the body and developing strategies to achieve enlightenment and moderation.
Albar said the Commissioners had before them a vast field that starts from politics and moves on to security, economics, science and technology.
Earlier in his address to the plenary session, the Malaysian Foreign Minister spoke of conflicts within the OIC which, he said, had bogged down the Muslim nations.
He also referred to foreign occupation of Muslim lands and tensions arising from Muslim minority status in a number of non-Muslim countries and also the extremist tendencies among the Muslim society.
These challenges, and also the under-development of the Ummah were the some of the problems that were "extremely complex and intricate", demanding urgent attention and unified action, he said.
Mushahid Hussain, Pakistan's nominee on the Commission, deviated from his text to regret that among other accusations against the Muslims and Islam the foremost was of 'extremism'. "It is ridiculous, as what happened recently at the Guantanamo Bay was fanaticism and extremism and not Islam which stands for tolerance and compassion".
He said that some views about the Muslims were so tainted that recently when he was introduced to a western intellectual as a Pakistani, he reacted with the observation: 'So you have the Islamic Bomb'.
Mushahid said that he told the gentleman that weapons do not have a religion, otherwise he might be calling the Indians as 'vegetarian bomb'.
He said it was this sort of mentality and narrow vision that needed correction.