OIC Silent on Alleged Genocide of Muslims in China

The 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which took place in Pakistan from March 22 to 23, saw the usual display of rhetoric related to the Muslim community’s interests globally. However, the latest session also saw the forum adopt some new issues on its agenda, including a measured push to offer space to the anti-Western narrative, which has raised questions about the institution’s ability to do its actual job of protecting Muslims’ interests.

Afghanistan’s ongoing humanitarian crisis found central space at the 48th session of the OIC. Participating countries urged the West to release Afghanistan’s financial reserves. In his keynote address, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Afghanistan’s stability was extremely important to stop international terrorism emanating from Afghan soil. He termed the Western sanctions on Afghanistan as a threat to peace.

“The only way to stop terrorism in Afghanistan is to encourage and support a stable government in the country,” Khan said, adding that the current sanctions on the Taliban and non-recognition of the regime are “the only danger[s] now” that could destabilize the country, allowing militants to gain a foothold there.

Khan implicitly condemned the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan by saying that it is a mistake to think that “some other country can come in and fight terrorism through drones.”

“The only way is a stable Afghanistan government that can take care of terrorism,” he stressed.

No one at the forum questioned the Taliban’s policies, including depriving a generation of women and girls of their right to education. Clearly, for the OIC the rights of Afghan women and girls don’t amount to an issue that should be discussed.

Moreover, no one questioned the group’s widely reported links with transnational militant groups such as al-Qaida. The forum didn’t deliberate either on frameworks to ensure that money being given to the Taliban would not end up in militants’ hands.

The forum’s only focus at the latest session appeared to be gathering donations for a group that has murdered thousands of innocent Afghans – and pushing the West to offer the Taliban recognition when none of the OIC members has done it so far.

The issue of Islamophobia and the West’s perceived inaction to counter it was another highlight of the session. The OIC’s Islamophobia Observatory periodic report, which was tabled at the 48th session, said the spread of Islamophobia was the worst in Europe, where negative stereotypes of Muslims still remain prevalent. The report indicated that “France and Britain witnessed the highest rates of activities related to Islamophobia [in 2021], especially through government policies that seemed to serve increasingly far-right tendencies.”

While addressing the forum, Pakistan’s Khan asked why Islam was equated with terrorism after the September 9/11 attacks in the United States. Giving the example of the 2019 attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, he said the massacre was the “consequence of this stereotyping.”

“Once that happens, how is the man in the street in Western countries, how is he supposed to differentiate between a moderate Muslim and a radical Muslim?” Khan asked.

Khan said that it was unfortunate that the Muslim world was unable to tackle this issue. “What should have been done wasn’t; the heads of Muslim countries should have taken a stand on this. Unfortunately, this narrative of Islamic terrorism, Islamic radicalization, this narrative went on unchecked.”

The focus on Islamophobia – and particularly the West’s alleged role in inflamming anti-Muslim sentiments – is unprecedented, indicating that the alliance will be more assertive in its criticism of Western nations in the coming years.

Another surprising development in the OIC’s latest foreign minister meeting was China’s inclusion in the forum and India’s exclusion from it.

It is important to note here that India has the world’s second largest Muslim population, but has usually been excluded from the OIC meetings due to Pakistan’s resistance. At the 45th session of the OIC’s conference in 2018, Bangladesh, the host country, proposed that India should be given observer status at the forum. But Pakistan opposed the suggestion because the country has bilateral issues to resolve with India.

Pakistan has, over the years, used the forum to settle political scores with India over the issue of Kashmir. During his keynote address at the 48th session, Khan told the participants that the OIC had failed the people of Kashmir. “I am sad to say that we have been able to make no impact at all,” he observed, referring to India’s alleged maltreatment of Muslims in the New Delhi-controlled part of the Kashmir region. Pakistan considers India’s administration of the area illegal.

On the other hand, the forum’s host, Pakistan, invited China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi as a “special guest.” No one at the OIC considered asking China about the genocide and crimes against humanity that it has committed against the country’s largely Muslim Uyghur ethnic group. Wang’s participation shows that the OIC is willing not only to overlook Beijing’s widely reported mistreatment of Uyghur Muslims but also to become part of a Chinese sphere of influence.

For instance, the Chinese foreign minister in his address said that “on the Kashmir issue, we have once again heard the call of many Islamic friends,” adding that “China shares the same aspiration.” Indirectly taking a dig at the West, he said that the idea of the “superiority of civilizations” and the misrepresentation and insult of non-Western civilizations should be opposed.

China’s participation at the 48th session of the OIC wouldn’t have been possible without the permission of Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, which has developed differences with the U.S. and other Western nations due to issues related to its human rights violations. The development essentially shows that the OIC is fast becoming a group that could offer legitimacy to states like China that have subjected Muslims to various crimes against humanity as long as the political and economic interests of the OIC’s member countries are protected.

Over the years, the OIC has not been able to achieve much when it comes to protecting the interests of the Muslim community globally. The latest development shows that the forum has not only lost its vision of protecting and furthering the interests of Muslims around the world but has turned into a venue of vested interests.