MUSLIM WORLD
UNGA: 1996 Agenda Notes On Cooperation between the UN and OIC
The item entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference” was included in the agenda of the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly, in 1980, at the request of Pakistan (A/35/194). The General Assembly considered the item at its thirty-fifth to forty-ninth sessions (resolutions 35/36, 36/23, 37/4, 38/4, 39/7, 40/4, 41/3, 42/4, 43/2, 44/8, 45/9, 46/13, 47/18, 48/24 and 49/15).
At its fiftieth session, the General Assembly, inter alia, requested the UN and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to continue cooperation in their common search for solutions to global problems; welcomed the proposals of the coordination meeting of focal points of the UN and the OIC to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations in a number of different areas and to review the ways and means for enhancing the actual mechanisms of such cooperation; also welcomed the efforts of the secretaries of the two organizations to strengthen cooperation between them in the political field and to undertake consultations with a view to defining the mechanisms of such cooperation; encouraged the specialized agencies and other organizations of the UN system to continue to expand their cooperation with the Organization of the Islamic Conference; recommended that a general meeting between representatives of the secretaries of the United Nations system and the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its specialized institutions should take place in 1996, and every two years thereafter; also recommended that coordination meetings of focal points of the organizations and agencies of the UN system and the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its specialized institutions should henceforth be held concurrently with the general meeting; and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its fifty-first session on the state of cooperation between the two organizations (resolution 50/17). Document: Report of the Secretary General.
Egypt:Chahine Film Lifted off Air Under Threat
Egypt's State television cancelled the broadcast of a movie by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who was honored at the Cannes film festival ... the name is 'Al-Muhager', or 'The Emigrant'. One of his older films have shown instead without explanation. Fundamentalists have long maintained that Al-Muhager insults Islam because its leading character is identifiable as Prophet Youssef. Islamic law prohibits a graphics portrayal of any prophet.'Al-Muhager was twice banned by Egyptian courts but the ban was repealed by an appeals court in March1995. Chahine's film 'Al-Massir',or 'Destiny' in recounts the life of 12th century Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd. and is scheduled to be released in Egypt in August, but Muslim fundamentalist group warn they will sue Chahine on the ground that the movie challenges Islamic beliefs.
The Hindu on OIC's Extraordinary Summit, Islamabad, March, 1997
The extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) tonight passed a Special Declaration condemning India and declaring "support for the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to resolve, through a substantive and meaningful dialogue, the J&K dispute, which is the basic cause of the tensions between India and Pakistan". "The Special Declaration, adopted shortly before midnight Indian Standard Time, laced this expression of support for an India-Pakistan dialogue with a categorical "condemnation of the oppression and massive violation of the human rights of the Kashmiri people".
The reference to India in regard to this” condemnation" was unmistakable, and the summit, held here to commemorate Pakistan's 50th year of independence, expressed its "support for the fundamental human rights of the Kashmiri people, including their right to self-determination."
Also expressed was the OIC's "commitment to promote a just and peaceful solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions".
These statements of apparent backing for the prospective India-Pakistan dialogue were placed in a context of the OIC's "deep concern over the situation in J&K, especially the suffering of the Kashmiri people, and the consequent tensions in the region"
Today's declaration by the OIC on J&K fully reflect the organisation's moral support for Pakistan's maximal position on Kashmir as it prepares to resume parleys with India in a new atmosphere of expectations. But the language used is harsh, even if familiar, and the only silver lining, in the context of the scheduled India-Pakistan talks, is that Mr. Sharif as well as the OIC have not slammed the door on the idea of these parleys.
Earlier Mr. Sharif told the summit that Islamabad was” determined to seek an honourable settlement of the J&K dispute in consonance with the wishes of the Kashmir people and in accordance with the U.N. resolutions". This marks a clear departure from Mr. Sharif's earlier insistence on a limited immediate agenda of "some progress on the core issue of J&K". India, Mr. Sharif hinted today, should eschew "policies of hegemony and power politics" in recognition of the "centrality" of a settlement of the Kashmir issue to a vision of peace and progress in South Asia. Visibly deriving inspiration from the presence of several Heads of Islamic States and Governments at the one-day summit, which is being held here to celebrate the50th anniversary of Pakistan's sovereignty, Mr. Sharif dramatically raised the pitch in his country's traditional polemics against India. While he did not appear to worry about the impact of atmospherics on the diplomatic mood in India on the eve of a resumption of bilateral talks, the OIC Secretary-General, Dr. Azeddine Laraki, expressed support for what he saw as Pakistan's "effort to start an objective dialogue" with India.
Manzur Ejaz On Pakistan, A Failed State?
Pakistan's failure as a state is being debated in various quarters. Seemingly, the western intellectuals associated with Pakistani affairs, through official or unofficial channels, have concluded that Pakistan, as a state, has either already failed or is on its way to failing. The Pakistani intelligentsia, which is extremely sensitive, feels offended by this proposition.
Many believe that the use of such terminology is a pretext to justify future interventions by the sole superpower. Though the state has been defined in many ways, most will take sovereignty and the monopoly over coercive power to maintain order as the essential functions of a state. Notwithstanding the erosion of the very notion of traditional sovereignty due to the penetration of modern technology, Pakistan is as much a sovereign state as the other 180 countries are. Pakistan's geographical integrity is intact, notwithstanding the separation of East Pakistan in1971.
The Pakistani state's monopoly over coercive power remains unchallenged. In other words, social anarchy and political disorder have still not reached a point that challenges the stat's monopoly over coercive force except, to some extent, in Karachi where it has been quelled with a heavy hand. However, if the present social disorder continues, one cannot predict with certainty whether the Pakistani state will fail or not.
Therefore, as it stands now, technically the Pakistani state has neither failed nor is it in the failing zone yet.
Traditional sovereignty is a constant in the modern era. However, the social anarchy resulting from depleting resources and a fast 'growing population threatens the existence of most states of the developing countries (not only Pakistan), argue the proponents of the idea of the failed state.
Pioneering the debate of failing states in the developing world, Robert B. Kaplan (The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1994) writes: "To understand the events of the next 50 years, one must understand environmental scarcity, cultural and racial clash, geographic density, and the transformation of war".
The state of degradation of the natural and social environment is obvious not only in the metropolis of Lahore, but remote villages of Punjab also reflect the same. Most of all, society is losing the sense of a social contract and is becoming oblivious to any 'common will' that the state is going to enforce.
Different institutions being taken over by this new urbanised peasant elite show a similar lack of a societal sensibility. This is manifest in the state's institutional anarchy, and fiscal in viability, chaos, corruption, nepotism and Darwinian economic culture are the outcomes. It cannot go on like this forever.
Either the monopoly state power will face a catastrophic challenge from as yet undefined forces and collapse, or it may be a preamble to a more advanced state of social development in Pakistan. The evidence is equally powerful for a better future. Order is born out of chaos.
Our elite has to realise that for their own good, they may be better off following Aristotle's dictum that "the state has to exist for the sake of a good life, and not for the sake of life only".(Source: The Times of India)
Egypt: Film Telecast Cancelled
Egypt's state television cancelled the broadcast of a movie by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who was honored at the Cannes film festival.
(The movie is) "Al-Muhager" or "The Emigrant”. One of his older films was shown instead without explanation.
Fundamentalists have long maintained that "Al-Muhager" insults Islam because its leading character is identifiable as Prophet Youssef. Islamic law prohibits a graphic portrayal of any Prophet.
"Al-Muhager" was twice banned by Egyptian courts but the ban was repealed by an appeal court in March1995.
Chahine's film "Al-Massir" or "Destiny” recounts the life of 12th century Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd and is scheduled to be released in Egypt in August, but Muslim fundamentalist groups warn they will sue Chahine on the ground that the movie challenges Islamic beliefs.
A Worm-Eaten Palestine?
If a recent report in The Sunday Times, London, is to be believed, Israel ... flooded its one-time military adversary, Egypt, with cheap drugs in the run-up to the Six-Day War in 1967 and continued sending hashish across the border for the next twenty years. Curiously, the drug operation was continued even after the 1979 Camp David accords signed by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, perhaps as insurance against future hostilities.
The attempt was to ensure that the drugs were bought and consumed by Egyptian soldiers in the front-lineregions ... The codename for the operation was Lahav, or” blade". Since the Israelis were able to seize the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip fairly easily, it can only be assumed that the supply of drugs had a debilitating effecton the fighting ability of the Egyptians.
Palestiane: Israeli Poll Favour Statehood
About half of all Israelis - the highest level ever support the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to a poll released today. The poll, conducted by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, also found that the number of Israelis opposed to returning any of the Golan Heights to Syria has dropped sharply in recent years to 31%.
Fifty-one percent of Israelis polled said Israel should agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the context of a peace treaty. The poll, of 1,216 Israelis, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Professor Asher Arian, who directed the survey, said the number of Israelis supporting establishment of a Palestinian state had inched up steadily since the annual poll was first taken in 1984. A decade ago, only 20 percent of Israelis supported a Palestinian state, he said. The poll found that60 percent of Israelis believe Palestinians want peace, up 20 per cent from last year, Arian said.
