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OIC may raise issue of cartoons with UN

The ambassadors of the OIC member-countries to Geneva and the members of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights met in New York to work out a mechanism to deal with the issue.

An official source at the Jeddah-based organisation told Khaleej Times over the phone yesterday that the OIC had received a proposal from the Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.

OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu welcomed the proposal, stressing that “Islamic nations will not tolerate such insulting acts,” the source said. He, however, did not specify as to when or where the proposed meeting would be held.

The OIC comprises 57 countries with a total population of 1.3 billion, representing 21 per cent of the global population.

In his proposal, Mottaki called the publication of the cartoons an "organised assault".

In connection with the issue, ambassadors and permanent representatives of the OIC member-states, accredited to the OIC General Secretariat, will hold an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah at the organisation headquarters tomorrow.

The meeting is expected to explore the ways of developing a proactive OIC strategy on this issue to project the true image of Islam and Muslims in the West, as well as to increase cooperation with international institutions with a view to ensuring the adoption of political, legal and socio-cultural frameworks in combating defamation and stereotyping of Muslims and their religion, according to the OIC Secretariat.

At the meeting, a decision of the emergency meeting of foreign ministers is likely to be concluded, the source said.

“There has been no written demand so far, but the Iranian foreign minister conveyed the suggestion to Ihsanoglu a couple days ago,” he added.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Prof Ihsanoglu and European Union's Common Foreign Policy and Security High Representative Javier Solana have called on the international community to remain calm and bring an end to the incidents caused by the publication of blasphemous cartoons. In a joint declaration, Annan, Ihsanoglu and Solana emphasised that the cartoons that insult the beliefs of Muslims cannot be assessed within the framework of ‘freedom of expression’.

In a message to the Muslim world, Prof Ihsanoglu said the organisation, since the publication of the offensive caricatures, has kept up efforts at various levels to condemn the act aimed at defaming and inciting hostility towards Islam.

“The furious reactions have indicated the extent of Muslim resentment and condemnation at the publication in a Danish newspaper and other newspapers which insulted their most sacred beliefs and noblest role model,” he said.

Prof Ihsanoglu said he would continue his efforts in this direction at all levels to enforce the right of the Muslim Ummah to protect its sanctity.

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