OIC Summit: Imran Khan Reiterated the Notorious Thesis of the Clash of Civilisation

OIC Summit: Imran Khan Reiterated the Notorious Thesis of the Clash of Civilisation
The 14th summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was held in the holy city of Makkah in the wake of the drone strikes on oil installations in Saudi Arabia and attacks on four vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Earlier, Salman Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the King of Saudi Arabia, expressed his concerns, in the emergency meeting of Gulf Arab on Thursday, on Iran’s development of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.

King Salman, in his inaugural address in the OIC summit, reiterated his support to Palestinians, saying, “Palestine is our main issue until the Palestinians get their rights.”  In fact, the summit was called in emergency to address and to muster the support of the Islamic world keeping in view of the latest political developments in the Middle East vis-a -vis Iran.

On May 29, 2019, the OIC contact group on Jammu and Kashmir was also convened on the margin of the OIC Foreign Ministers conference. The OIC Secretary General, Dr Yousef Bin Ahmed Al Othaimeen, in his statement hoped that India and Pakistan would resume the ‘real’ dialogue ‘towards a result driven management of all the outstanding issues, foremost of which the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.” He also reaffirmed that OIC stands fully in support of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their ‘legitimate right’.



The heads of states of 57 countries participated in the OIC summit and the joint declaration is still awaited till this write up. The crux is to condemn the subservice terrorist attacks that target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region and also security of world energy supplies and navigation.

It must have been difficult for Pakistan to lean on the one block that’s a great economic support and enjoys the status of Khadmain Hermain Sharifain and to ignore her close neighbour. Knowing the tilt to the one will cause a great trouble in the eternal politics of the country.  It’s to walk on a very tight rope of the world of diplomacy, for, Pakistan can’t show her allegiance, in the present conflict, to any of the block. The coming days will unfold the dexterity or the failure of the Pakistan’s diplomacy.

Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, in his address to the OIC seemed oscillating between the two extreme poles. He highlighted the plight of Palestinians and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. While reminding the OIC of its lukewarm protest on blasphemes of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he detoured from the agenda of the summit.

Unfortunately, our prime minister doesn’t believe in the homework and consultation. He could have delivered an articulate address had he prepared himself but his obsession with the extempore always hits back. He tried in vain to explain the difference between political Islam and radical Islam instead seemed to justify the political cause of the radicals, forgetting or deliberately ignoring the pan-Islamic agenda of the radicals.

In this world, radicalism can’t be justified by calling it a political struggle, whereas Imran Khan in his address by addressing the political Islam reiterated the notorious thesis of the clash of civilisation. How can you rationalise the subversive activities of the radicals within and without? They are as dangerous to any of the Muslim society as they are to the rest of the world.

The radicals don’t believe in the present political system of the world then how can they are for the political cause? In the upheaval of Swat, the radicals castigated the Constitution of Pakistan and were brutal to the modern education system.

Even the so-called moderates don’t tolerate the scientific innovations. Fawad Chaudhry is facing the wrath of the moderates only for introducing the mobile app for moon sighting. TLYR, who were once projected moderates, were genies out of bottle and their ferocity was suffice to rethink about the moderate Islamic forces of Pakistan.

Politics is not an abstract term as taken by our prime minister. Defining of socio-economic dynamics is the politics not a great bonanza to untangle as our leaders usually present. Be it moderates or the radicals, they have different interpretations of the socio-economic dynamics of the society and that’s poles apart from the modern-day world interpretations.

Unfortunately, Imran Khan is an embodiment of the confusion, prevailing in our present Muslim world.