HYDERABAD: Senate Chair­m­an Mian Raza Rabbani said on Saturday that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has become irrelevant today since it appeared that it could not defend its own member states.

He asked which Islamic country came to the rescue of Pakistan when the country was threatened by US President Donald Trump or during the Afghan war.

He said but whenever any Islamic country faced difficulty Pakistan was the first to react.

He was addressing a one-day seminar titled Rohingya issue and Pakistan’s policy organised by Sindh University’s Area Study Centre, Fareast & Southeast Asia.

Former foreign secretary Najmuddin Shaikh, Sindh Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro, Asghar Soomro, Dr Mohammad Ali and Dr Hamadullah Kakepoto also spoke.

Mr Rabbani said: “There is not a single Islamic country which could propose a solution to the Rohingya Muslim crisis. OIC has become redundant.”

He said that he remembered that Pakistan always led from the front in case any Islamic country faced any problem. He came down hard on the West saying that it claimed to be the champion of civilisation but remained a silent spectator on the issue of Rohingya Muslims.

Sindh government can’t recognise Rohingya settlements in Karachi, says Khuhro

He said that history was witness to the fact that international rights bodies and world did not talk about atrocities in Palestine, or use of pellet guns against children in India-held Kashmir, as they took a stand only for the sake of their own interest.

The Senate chairman said that the US wanted to make India the “policeman of the region”.

He feared Asia again seemed vulnerable to prospect of a fresh wave of terrorism considering the fact that elements against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could go to any length to sabotage it.

Referring to the billions of dollars weapons deals between the US and Saudi Arab and Qatar, he said the West thrived on a war-driven economy.

He said that the recent dispute between Qatar and Gulf estates and the Arab Spring were a part of a greater US game to establish oil monopoly and boost arms sale.

He asked the students to must remember that whenever the army took over the menaces of sectarianism and ethnic divide were promoted.

Najmuddin Shaikh, the former foreign secretary, said that the OIC must resolve the Myanmar crisis and political leadership should use this platform.

He said that 1.1 million Muslims live in Rakhine state and 420,000 of them had migrated to Bangladesh. “So far 3,000 Muslims have been killed and properties of thousands of them burnt.”

He said that the massacre of Rohingya people in Myanmar had been continuing for a long time, causing their displacement.

Around 400,000 of them are living in Pakistan, 860,000 in Bangladesh, 200,000 in Saudi Arabia, 10,000 in the UAE, 40,000 in India, 5,000 in Thailand, 150,000 in Malaysia and 10,000 in Indonesia.

Mr Khuhro said that it was difficult for the Sindh government to recognise Rohingya settlements in Karachi due to their illegal status but “genocide in any form anywhere is condemnable”.

He said they condemned the killing of innocent people in Myanmar and called on responsible global organisations for result-oriented interventions.

SU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fateh Mohammad Burfat said that people of Sindh influenced by their mystic ideological fabric had never endorsed violence, unrest and disharmony. “SU is first university in Pakistan to have discussed the issue,” he said.

Talking to journalists, the Senate chairman said that former military dictator Pervez Musharraf was the murderer of Benazir Bhutto as she had written letters mentioning threats from him.

He said that if Musharraf was a brave man then he should come and face the judiciary.

Mr Rabbani avoided a question regarding passage of an election bill by the Senate, saying being the Senate chairman he could not respond to such a political question.

He said that parliament was a weak institution among all state institutions. He said that democracy was not like electricity which could be turned off with a switch.

The veteran politician said that continuity of the democratic system was essential and if institutions were strong, the system would also be automatically strong.

He said that parliament had played a positive role after the statement of the US President Trump.

He said that the foreign policy must be subservient to national interests and Pakistan must have an independent policy instead of an apologetic one.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2017