Future of OIC and Kazakhstan, Frontier Post

None
None
ASTANA. February 10. KAZINFORM. Kazinform agency offers its readers a commentary by Saima Kamal for Frontier Post. Our world is passing through the most turbulent period ever since the attack of twin towers on 9/11. The aftermath has witnessed war in Iraq, Afghanistan and a strong wave of suicide attacks particularly in the Muslim world.

Dynamics of world politics have been changed with sheer challenges for the Islamic countries. The gap between East and West is widening. To meet the present day challenges and transform them into opportunities, Muslim Ummah has the largest forum of Organisation of the Islamic Conference. The collective population of the OIC members equals one-fifth of the world population spreading over three continents. They possess 70 per cent of the world's energy resources and a 40 per cent share in the global supply of raw materials. When we take a bird's eye view of the achievements of the Organisation it presents a very pale and gloomy picture.

It is hoped that the Organisation will be transformed under the new leadership of Kazakhstan who is in a position to bring the East and West closer as it did during the chairmanship of OSCE. There is no doubt that the organisation intends to be a closely knit entity with respect for the sovereignty of the member states. In the world of today, it is fast becoming a reality that no state would be able to survive on its own in isolation. The trends which are being set in the world of today are different in many ways from those which were a few decades ago. The experts OIC Assistant Secretary General Abdel Moez Buokhari agree with a degree of consensus that arrangement of the OSCE summit and bringing the OIC representatives to the negotiating table is a success of Kazakhstan. It is for this reason and for many other reasons that it is expected that the Kazakh chairmanship of the OIC would go a long way in the development of both the Organisation and of the Muslim Ummah.

The OIC is an international club of 57 states which view Kazakhstan as a key member, the one which has the potential to lead the organisation to the heights of success and one which can bridge the gap between two international structures - the OSC E and OIC. It must be kept in mind that the OIC does not have religious goals as is commonly believed. Rather it only represents the interests and the aspirations of the Muslim community. The Organisation is driven by the motive to bring the Muslim community at par with the developed world and to inject modernisation into the community. The Organisation views the task of enabling the Muslim community to meet the challenges of 21st century as its prime task.

As a new leader of the Organisation, it is expected that Kazakhstan would play a pivotal role in furthering the integration of Central Asia in the OIC responsibility area. The reason for this is that the OIC leadership sees it as an important means to promote the internal cooperation both between states and the geographic zones. Given the immense political and economic potential of Kazakhstan, almost all the members of the organisation are pretty hopeful that these objectives would be achieved. There is yet another accomplishment which is by no means less significant. Last year an action plan was adopted by the OIC participating states for promotion of women rights in the OIC member countries. For this purpose, a charter of the Islamic Centre for Women Affairs was drafted. The Centre is all set to open after the ratification of the same by the 15 OIC member states as is required by the Organisation's Charter. Yet another achievement is the establishment of a special OIC Family Affairs Department which has already been set up in pursuance of a resolution adopted in 2009 OIC CFM in Dushanbe.

The agenda of Kazakhstan in the Chair of the OIC would play a pivotal role for achieving the goal of women rights and gender equality in the Muslim world. The single most important event in this respect will be OIC International Conference on Women Affairs in the Muslim World which is slated for 2012 in Astana. In keeping with its 10-year action plan, the Organisation is set to reinforce legislation aimed at wider involvement of Muslim women in economic, cultural, social and political arenas and protection of women from any kind of violence and discrimination in line with UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Islamic values of justice and equality. Another significant moment in the history of the country would arrive when it would chair the OIC's essential political body - the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) and would take on the commitment and responsibility for promoting Common Muslim values.

Another important milestone under the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan would be achieved with the beginning of inter-religious dialogue, which has been reiterated by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev many times. As it has always been an advocate of closer interaction between the East and the West, the two sides would practically get closer under the leadership of Kazakhstan as Chairman of OIC.

Even the Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu realises that Kazakhstan is a country which understands the need of close relations among the Muslim community and the role of OIC. He is also hopeful that the leadership of Kazakhstan would go a long way in bringing the Organisation closer to the OSCE. The Secretary General said: "I believe this process will lay foundation for the rapprochement of our organisations. Regional and international cooperation is crucial to poverty reduction, to fight against terrorism and transnational crime. We proceed from a strategic vision of solidarity in Central Asia adopted at the last CFM in Tajikistan. I am appreciative of Kazakhstan's exemplary lead in disarmament. It must be followed by other countries to build up a world free from nuclear arms and mass destruction weapons". Although there are a host of reasons for the hope, the most important is the impressive socio-economic and political development. This country of 16.2 million people is a peaceful home to many ethnicities and religions. The performance of Kazakhstan in recent years which reflected the country as one having dynamic foreign and domestic policy is one of the main reasons for the hope which everyone attaches with this country. Kazakhstan acceded to the OIC in 1995, ever since it has been boosting cooperation with the states of this burgeoning region. It is upholding economic relations with the OIC's 42 members in four main directions: trade, transport, tourism and finance. In the long run, the Organisation is "bound" to play a prominent part in modern international relations. Political ambitions of the Islamic states, growing threat of "Islamic extremism" and politico-religious trends, development directions of newly independent Muslim states will partly depend on a position of the international organisation seeking to be the Islamic world's political hub.

To read more see www.thefrontierpost.com .

Currently reading