'There were free elections'

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) does not involve in domestic politics of any member states, its Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani has said on his first day in Dhaka.

He said the OIC welcomed the results of the Jan 5 elections and looked forward to working with the Bangladesh government.

“….this is Bangladesh and this is a free, democratic country and there were free elections,” Madani said about the Jan 5 elections.

The Jan 5 polls were boycotted by the BNP led Opposition alliance.

The OIC Chief arrived in Dhaka on Sunday morning on a three-day visit -- his first overseas visit since he took the office in January.

Briefing journalists after meeting Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, Madani said he would listen to Bangladesh’s leaders about their vision and priorities for the OIC.

The OIC is the world's largest Muslim organisation.

“But as a matter of principle, I think we have two challenges that we have to face as a Muslim Ummah,” said Madani, a former minister of Saudi Arabia.

“One is a sectarian violence, which erupts between Shias and Sunnis and sometimes between Sunnis,” he said.

"In that situation, there is no winner and all end up as losers," Madani said.

OIC has to play a role in tackling these conflicts, he said and added: “We also have to confront the voices of extremism who think they have a right to talk on behalf of Islam.”

“We cannot allow them to hijack Islam,” he said and that “Islam is a religion of tolerance, a peaceful co-existence of prosperity, scientific knowledge of free mind”.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be taken over by religious tunnel vision," Madani said.

He is expected to meet President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, apart from meeting several senior ministers.

OIC was established through a decision of the Summit in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on Sep 25 in 1969 in response to an act of criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem in Palestine.