OIC chief phones FM Mahmood Ali, expresses solidarity with Bangladesh in ‘painful’ moment

The OIC Secretary General, in a phone call to Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, has conveyed his sympathy and the organisation’s support to Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack in Dhaka on Friday.

Iyad Ameen Madani said that he wanted to come to Bangladesh to express his solidarity with the people and government of Bangladesh but owing to Eid ul Fitr he was unable to do so.
 
“He will undertake the visit soon at a convenient date,” said a senior official at the foreign ministry.
 

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali (File Photo)

The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in a statement said it was “profoundly” shocked to learn of the unprecedented terrorist attack in Dhaka.

Madani condemned, in the strongest terms, such an assault by terrorists that targeted innocent people in a restaurant in the diplomatic zone of the city on Friday night. The attack left some 20 people, mostly foreigners, dead and many more injured. 

In the statement, the Secretary General “reiterated the solidarity of OIC and its firm support to Bangladesh in these critical and painful circumstances.”

He expressed his most sincere condolences to the government and to the families of the victims and wished the wounded a quick recovery. 

Madani reiterated the OIC’s “firm position” against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

He called again for concerted collective international efforts to defeat this menace against humanity and stressed the need to understand and address extremism, violence and terrorism in a “comprehensive approach” by taking  political, economic and social contexts into account.