B’DESH FAVOURS OBSERVER ROLE FOR INDIA IN OIC

DHAKA: Bangladesh has proposed restructuring of the charter of the Organisation of Islamic Conference to pave way for inclusion of non-muslim countries like India as observer states.

The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations. “A number of countries – not OIC members, have large number of Muslims as their citizens. . . There is a need to build bridges with those non-oic countries,” Bangladesh’s foreign minister Mahmud Ali said at the annual meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Dhaka.

He said the induction was needed so that a large number of Muslim population “do not remain untouched by the good work of OIC and “that is why, reforms and re-structuring is critical for OIC”.

The Muslims may be minority in those countries, but in terms of numbers, they often exceed the total population of many OIC member countries, Ali told the meeting, inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday. Officials and analysts said the proposal was meant mainly for India where Islam is the second largest religion with Muslims constituting some 10% of the global adherents of the faith.

Several OIC member countries and its secretary general appreciated the proposal but experts said it could see opposition from Pakistan which had earlier opposed India’s induction.