Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (formerly known as Organization of Islamic Conference) is an
international organization established with the aim to protect and safeguard
the right of Muslim World. It is the collective voice of Muslim world with
almost 57 member states and collectively 1.6 billion populations. Its core
objective is to protect the rights of Muslims world with the courage to promote
International peace and harmony. It was founded in 25th December
1969, having administrative centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Prime Objectives:
Out
of all, major objective as given in the charter of OIC are as follows:
- Protect Islamic Social and Economic Values.
- Promote Harmony Among Member States.
- Increase Cooperation in Social, Economical, Cultural, Political and Scientific Areas.
- Maintain Global Peace and Security.
- Advanced Education, especially in the field of Science and Technology.
Stance
of OIC in Disputes:
There are number
of disputes/conflicts of Muslim States in which OIC took stance, however there
are many others where the OIC acted as silent spectator. In the case of Palestine-Israel
Conflict the OIC supported two-state solution where both the countries
would honor the defined territorial boundaries and would support regional
harmony. However, the conflict is still undergoing aggression from Israel and
OIC along with United Nations Organization is failed to resolve this matter
amicably.
Indian-Held-Kashmir
is another untouched conflict by international organizations. When the issue
was raised in the OIC for resolution, India showed interest to become member of
OIC which was opposed by many member states including Pakistan because of
human-right violations being conducted by India in Indian-Held Kashmir. The
fact that India occupies about 11% population of the Muslim world (i.e. approx
172 million), enforced OIC to make an exception for India to accept its
membership. However, based on tremendous resistance it couldn’t happen and the
conflict still persists.
The
same situation goes in case of many other conflicts like Burma, where the Muslims
are being killed by Buddhist and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is
unable to help Muslims out there. In 1990 Iraq attacked Kuwait because of
territorial disputes. Both of the states are member of OIC and Kuwait pleaded
for freedom from Iraq. Howsoever, OIC couldn’t make it but US-led military
force intervened the case, defeated Iraqi force and kicked them out of Kuwait.
OIC
is also failed to maintain the harmony between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The tension exaggerated due to differences in Islamic interpretation and Oil
export policy. Since the living standard of Saudi Arabia is highly lavish
besides low population so they seek the long-term relation with U.S, U.K and
France with moderate oil price policy. Contrarily Iran’s living standard is
dramatically low because of war with Iraq so they set higher prices for their
oil.
However, lately United-Stated
made a Nuclear Deal with Iran for consumption of nuclear resources to
generate energy for domestic use only. Saudi Arabia and Israel are against this deal since both
the countries are frightened that Iran could produce Nuclear Weapons too. This
situation evidently portrays how beautifully United States exploits Muslims
countries due to lack of unity.
Causes
of OIC Failure:
As discussed
above the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been failed in achieving its
objectives. However, there are certain reasons behind its failure, given as
under:
(i)
Lack
of Unity/Sectarianism:
The Muslims are divided into sects and ethnic groups
and lack unity. This situation is unpropitious for Muslim World. The conflict
between Iraq-Saudi Arabia is primarily based on sectarian issues where the
Arabia is Sunni Muslims and Iran belongs to the Shia School of Law. Because of
such differences and hatred the conflict arose and benefit went to the western
countries. They could make a monopolistic oil market in the world by
cooperative policies. Palestine is also facing the same issue where Israel’s
aggression is supplemented by Al Fatah and Hamas’ differences.
(ii)
Personal
Interests of Member States:
The member states of OIC put their personal/national
interest first than mutual interest of Muslim world. The Iran-Saudi conflicts
are example where both the countries could make monopolistic oil market in the
world but due to personal interests and sectarian conflicts they are being
exploited by western countries.
(iii)
No
Military Force:
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation doesn’t have
any combined military force like NATO to help out Muslims in trouble. Though
Pakistan-Army has helped number of times different Muslim countries when needed
but there is no officially established force by OIC.
(iv)
Lack
of Knowledge/Education:
Another prime reason for failure of OIC is that the
mostly Muslim countries are uneducated and don’t have proper knowledge of
Islamic teachings. They either go too liberal or too radical. That’s the reason they don’t
understand the value to Muslim-Unity and put their interests first.
Conclusion
& Recommendations:
It’s been clear
now the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is unsuccessful in achieving its
desired goals because of certain reasons. The Non-Muslim countries like United
States, Israel, United Kingdom, Russia and France are exploiting Muslims
countries to get benefits. This is alarming situation for Muslim World to get
united against forces which are dangerous for Islam and Muslim countries. For
this OIC must establish educational reforms to eliminate the sectarian
conflicts to spread love and peace among Muslim countries, it must institute a
joint military force to combat with the attackers like Israel or India, it must
initiate economic development projects between Muslims states to curb the
western-dependency and to flourish the Economy of Muslim World.
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