OIC, Muslims & Sri Lanka
Dr. Ameer Ali
In the wake of United Nations Human Rights Commission’s resolution passed in Geneva, to which only four Muslim countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and Uzbekistan) voted for Sri Lanka, and encouraged by that resolution, the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has issued a separate statement condemning Sri Lankan Government’s discriminatory laws against Muslims in the name of deradicalization and counter terrorism. That statement also notes with serious concern the arbitrary arrests and incarceration of Muslims under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and torturing them to force confession out of them for some imaginary allegations. On the face of it, OIC-IPHRC statement appears just a statement and authorities in Sri Lanka could ignore that as one more of its kind. However, if one understands how OIC works behind the scene to influence governments of its 57 members of which all but one, members of United Nations and 42 of them have Muslim majority population, Sri Lankan Government would be advised to take the statement little more seriously.