ISLAMABAD, 15 May 2007 — It is being billed as the most important meeting in the history of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The reason is simple: When foreign ministers of the Muslim nations meet in the Pakistani capital’s sprawling Jinnah Convention Center today, they will be discussing the 36-year-old organization’s complete revamp with a new charter and possibly a new name as well.

The OIC was formally established in September 1969 after the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Though Pakistan has been caught in a domestic political upheaval, Islamabad wore a festive look. All roads leading from Islamabad International Airport to the convention center were decorated with festoons and pictures of the OIC leaders. At the center itself, colorful flags of the OIC countries were fluttering in the evening breeze while Pakistan Foreign Ministry officials were giving final touches to the draft agenda of the 34th session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM). Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal will represent Saudi Arabia at the all-important three-day meeting.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate the meeting while Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will preside over the concluding session of the ICFM. Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri will be hosting the ICFM meeting and will preside over the second day’s proceedings.

“Top of the meeting’s agenda is the organization’s restructuring,” said a top OIC delegate. “Earlier this week,” he pointed out, “the Inter-Governmental Group of Experts (IGGE) on the study of the new OIC constitution met in Jeddah to amend the charter. The new charter will be presented to the foreign ministers for discussion. Only after their approval will the changes come into effect.”

Ever since he took over as chief of the organization some two years ago, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has been talking of giving the organization a new direction. “The most important task is to revitalize the organization,” he said. According to him, the new proposals will determine the direction of the OIC for the next decade and transfer it to a new era of serving the Muslim Ummah.

“With a new charter and perhaps a new name, the OIC has taken the first step on the path to dynamic change. It will no longer be the same old OIC,” said a Pakistani diplomat. “With a new name and a new charter and more resources, it will be a forward-looking, dynamic organization.”

A top Saudi journalist who has been covering OIC for the last 20 years said the Islamabad meeting “represents a turning point in the OIC’s history.” According to him, the draft revised charter has been prepared by a high-level consultative group and examined by an eminent group of legal experts. Also for the first time, the OIC meeting will discuss steps to check the rising tide of Islamophobia in Europe during a brainstorming session.

The ministers are expected to study various strategies to foster mutual understanding and dialogue between the Muslim world and the West.

On the agenda are the political issues facing the Muslim world — Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Iran’s nuclear energy — as well as issues of Muslim minorities such as in the Philippines and Thailand. In addition, there will also be discussions on economic, science, health, education, environment, culture and social issues.

But perhaps the most important discussions are expected to center around Israeli moves against Islam’s third holiest Al-Aqsa Mosque. The ICFM meeting will discuss ways and means of stopping Israel from continuing its excavation at the Western Wall near the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The OIC secretary-general has repeatedly expressed his anguish and dismay at the world’s silence on Israel’s blatant moves to Judaize Jerusalem and change the holy city’s historic character.

“When the Buddhist statues were being demolished in Bamiyan, the whole world rose up against the Taleban regime in Afghanistan,” he said. “UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was very active then, but not a word is being said against what Israel is doing to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Nobody utters a word against the Israeli aggression. Nobody is really taking any action. There is silence everywhere.”

The OIC foreign ministers meet is expected to formulate a strong response to the dire situation in Jerusalem. Israel claims the excavation work is to recover artifacts before constructing a walkway to the mosque, but Muslims around the world insist the digging is geared toward destroying the foundations of the 1,400-year-old mosque. Ihsanoglu said the excavation work being carried out by Israel constituted the gravest threat ever to the holy mosque.

“What we are watching today is the gravest threat because we are living in an age of globalization — in a world where everybody knows everything in real time,” Ihsanoglu said. “In the Middle Ages and during the Crusades, nobody knew what was going on. It took days and weeks and even months for news to trickle to other parts of the world.” The OIC chief said what was happening in Jerusalem was nothing new.

“This has been the case ever since Israel occupied Palestine. The Jewish state has always wanted to change the nature of Al-Quds and the holy site. It wants to alter the city’s demographics and Islamic identity... So this is nothing new. But of course what has happened is that they have accelerated the attempts by destructive changes. They have clearly indicated their plans to Judaize the whole city.”