Bangladesh on Saturday proposed reforms and restructuring of Organisation of Islamic Conference inferring Muslims from non-Muslim countries should not remain untouched by the good works of OIC.
Bangladesh foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali made the proposal at the OIC foreign ministers’ meet on Saturday.
“A number of countries – not members of Organisation of Islamic Conference, have large number of Muslims as their citizens. The Muslims may be minority in those countries, but in terms of number – they often exceed the total population of many OIC member countries,” AH Mahmud Ali said in Dhaka.
“There is a need to build bridges with those non-OIC countries, so that a large number of Muslim populations do not remain untouched by the good work of OIC,” he added.
Though Mahmood Ali did not mention any names specifically, but India which has over 180 million Muslims may get entry as observer in the OIC if the proposal is implemented. The number is more than the total population of all OIC countries except Indonesia.
The foreign minister said as the world is changing in many ways and that the OIC cannot continue with business as usual.
“We need to re-think our work, method and process of functioning to cater to the needs of the current era and beyond. Otherwise, we risk making our organisation redundant,” he said.