OIC’s Mecca Declaration:
A Mixture of Realism and Idealism

The POST, Sun, Dec,18, 2005.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema


Almost all Muslims agree that united Muslim front could present a formidable force on the world scene. It could not only effectively promote Muslim countries interests but could also further the cause of civilization everywhere. It is also well known that the Muslim world is divided and ridden with strife. At time one gets the impression that many within the Muslim world are pulling towards opposite directions. Some are rich while others are poor. Some are moving towards modernity while others appear to be pulling backward. In some Muslim countries women have even enjoyed the status of head of government but simultaneously there are countries where the women hardly play any significant role in the administration.

Despite all the problems the Muslim countries were able to establish a loosely knit organization called the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference).  The organization is the product of a collective response to an unwarranted arson attack on Masjid-i-Aqsa in 1969.  Admittedly the name itself suggests that the organization is meant to arrange meetings of Islamic countries periodically. Nevertheless over the years the organization has managed to evolve some form of a rudimentary structure.

The need for restructuring in order to make it an effective collective body of the Islamic world was never so acutely felt than after the tragedy of 9/11 and consequent war against terror which was mostly equated in many western countries as war against Islamic terrorists. A concerted campaign was undertaken by many interested parties to project the freedom struggles that are being waged by the Muslims in Kashmir, Palestine and Chechnya as terrorist movements. The irony of situation is that many of these freedom struggles are already recognized as legitimate freedom movements.

The existing ground realities, challenges confronting Islamic world and emergent heavily loaded atmosphere influenced rather effectively the leadership in many Muslim countries to revamp the OIC with a view to make it more effective. In this connection many leaders made significant contributions including the President of Pakistan who had also given a call for extraordinary session in last summit in Malaysia.

The extraordinary summit of the OIC was held at Mecca on 7-8 December, 2005 and adopted what is known as Mecca Declaration. Undoubtedly the declaration reflects future roadmap for the Ummah. Stressing the need for unity, the Mecca Declaration clearly seeks the help of experts in reinforcing the desired unity among the Muslims.

On the menace of terrorism, the OIC in its declaration unequivocally condemned its all forms and manifestations. Portraying it as a global phenomenon, the declaration forcefully stressed that it is not related to any religion, race, color or country. The OIC also made it quite clear that terrorism can neither be justified nor rationalized. The members appeared to have reflected their determination to deal effectively with this menace. It urged the member nation to develop national laws to criminalize every single terrorist practice and every move leading to financing or instigation of terrorism. Simultaneously it called upon the international community to accelerate and redouble its efforts to combat the menace of terrorism.

The summit extended full support for the Kashmir cause and stressed that the Kashmiri people be allowed to exercise their right to decide their future. In this connection the member states also called upon the involved parties to respect human rights. Undoubtedly this appears to reflect the continuing wish of many members of the OIC despite the fact that they recognize that it is unlikely to be secured as long as India refuses to acknowledge Kashmiris rights and continues with its blatant human rights violation policy. Indeed this has been and still continues to be part of the OIC’s idealism. Unless and until a collective action is envisaged and clearly communicated to India that if the human rights situation does not improve the OIC would be compelled to undertake punitive action, the situation is unlikely to improve. It has been repeatedly proven over and over again that India merely pays lip service to all promises made for the stoppage of human rights violations.

Once again the members of OIC described the Palestine issue as its central concern and called upon Israel to withdraw from Palestine lands occupied since 1967 in addition to Syrian Golan Heights. The members also urged to cooperate with the international community to dismantle Jewish settlements and to cease the construction of the Israeli separation wall. While such calls are regularly given by the OIC in the hope that Israel would withdraw from the Palestinian territories, the Israel continues to refuse to adhere to such calls by regional and international organizations. Everybody knows that the Israeli refusal is going to continue as long as a super power backs them up.

However it needs to be stressed here that in many ways one finds that the summit touched upon issues that can be realistically approached. The summit did not ignore the need to look inward and highlighted the necessity of eradication of illiteracy, effective recipes for dealing with diseases and epidemics. The member states expressed their determination to eliminate poverty. Recognizing the pervasive poverty, the declaration indicates quite clearly the resolve of this collective body to fight poverty.

Additionally among the realistic suggestions that were agreed upon in the extraordinary summit of the OIC at Mecca also included the establishment of a free trade zone for the member states, Islamic international institution to finance commerce, increasing the capital of the Islamic bank, At-Aqsa university at Al Quds etc. . While it forcefully rejected extremism, it pledged to develop educational curriculum to promote tolerance, understanding, dialogue and diversity. The summit highlighted the necessity of eradication of illiteracy, effective recipes for dealing with diseases and epidemics.

To safeguard the values and interests of Ummah, to deal effectively with ills confronting the member states and to prepare the Muslim countries to face the challenges of the 21^st century, it was decided to adopt and endorse a Ten Year Program of Action. Undoubtedly the declaration issued by this extraordinary summit reflects a mixture of realistic and idealistic objectives. What is required by the OIC is to evolve some kind of action plan if no forward movement is witnessed with regards to the resolution of Kashmir dispute and the Palestine issue within an agreed time frame. Alternatively the OIC would continue to reflect its idealism in the periodic and ritualistic passages of resolutions. 

The writer works for Islamabad Policy Research Institute.