Jewish connection?
RD Qureshi, On mail
About his defeat in the election to the prestigious post of secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Mr. Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury accused, as quoted by an English language daily of Dhaka, the 'machinations of pro-Israeli camp". This expression itself, adding "It's a major victory o the pro-Israeli lobby" is devoid of diplomatic wisdom on the part of Mr. SQ Chowdhury, who desired to get the post of secretary general of the OIC. Such a position calls for political as well as diplomatic skills, combined with profound knowledge of Islam, its history and intentional affairs, but SQ Chowdhury is only a local politician of Bangladesh and is not known to have any reputation in other areas. Even in the local political field, he faces a strong opposition from a major political party and its allies in the smaller parties.Mr. Chowdhury's finding a Jewish connection in the process of election of the secretary general of OIC is an accusation against some imaginary Muslim countries toeing the lines of Israel. That will surely hurt the Muslim countries. As for Turkey, its Jewish connection was established years back by the former strongly secular governments of that country. But the present government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is deeply pro-Islamic. Mr. Erdogan was jailed for four months in 1999 for reciting a poem at a political rally that said: "Minarets are our bayonets, Domes are our helmets, Mosques are our barracks, Believers are our soldiers." The court ruled that the poem incited hatred along religious lines ! Mr. Erdogan had to fight a legal battle to win back his entitlement to participate in the elections. Islam-leaning of the government of Turkey is reflected in their nomination of the candidate for the OIC post. Prof. Ekmeleddin Ehsanoglu, who has since won the election by a large margin to be the secretary general elect, is a scholar at the Islamic Conference Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture. Our Foreign Minister Mr. Morshed Khan has since disowned, on behalf of the government of Bangladesh, Mr. Chowdhury's allegation of Jewish connection in his defeat.' But some damage has already been done. The Organisation of Islamic Conference has been existing for a long time without any apparent gain to the Muslim world. With good leadership it could achieve the role of an united force of the Muslim Ummah--the duplicate of the lost Khalifat, now in a democratic shape. It would have been great if Dr. Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia could have been persuaded by the Muslim countries to take over the lead after he voluntarily left the prime minister's job a few months back, after transforming the poor shape of Malaysia to a glorious one.
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