Organization of Islamic Cooperation
About:
- The OIC is the second-largest international organization after the United Nations, with 57 member states.
- It represents the voice of all Muslims worldwide.
- It aims to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of creating international peace and harmony among various peoples of the world.
- Following a 28-year-old Australian’s arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that year, the First Islamic Summit Conference, which was held in Morocco in September 1969, established the Organization of the Islamic Conference to unify the Islamic world.
- The headquarters are in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
What is the current state of India’s overall collaboration with the OIC?
- As the country with the second-largest Muslim population in the world, India had been invited to the founding convention in Rabat in 1969, but was humiliatingly evicted at Pakistan’s request.
- India stayed out for a number of reasons, including its reluctance to associate with an organisation that had a religious basis.
- In a grouping, there was a potential that efforts to deepen bilateral ties with certain member states may be put at risk, especially when it came to issues like Kashmir.
- During the 45th session of the Foreign Ministers’ Summit in 2018, Pakistan protested Bangladesh’s request that India, where more than 10% of the world’s Muslims live, be awarded Observer status.
- Following the development of tight connections with significant members like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, India has been assured in its ability to respond to any statement made by the group.
- As India has frequently emphasised, J&K is a “integral part of India and is a subject wholly domestic to India,” and the OIC has no locus standi with respect to the subject.
- India made its debut appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ conference in 2019 as a “guest of honour.”
- This invitation was welcomed as a diplomatic triumph for India, especially in light of the present condition of intensified hostility between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama attack.
