Organization of the Islamic Conference member states were urged to pay Muslim minorities more attention and provide them with the required support and assistance, said an OIC press release here Monday. Addressing representatives of Muslim minorities and member states at the 2nd Meeting of the Governmental Group of Experts on the Situation of Muslim Minorities in non-OIC Member States, OIC Secretary General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said he devoted a great deal of his time and energy to build closer relations between Muslim minorities outside non-OIC member states and the OIC member states. Muslim minorities constitute one third of the total number of Muslims across the world, representing half a billion people, he said. Ihsanoglu pointed to the initiatives he undertook to resolve the issues besetting Muslim minorities in the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Western Thrace in Greece, and the Caucasus region as well as other regions of the world. Special OIC envoys were sent to a number of countries hosting Muslim minorities over the past years in order to get a first-hand report on the conditions of Muslims, interact with them, and identify their needs. The OIC, he added, is also involved in the peace efforts underway in both the Philippines and Thailand. The Secretary General indicated that he had appointed Sayed Kassim El-Masri as special envoy for peace in Southern Philippines with the task working out a solution to the issues of Muslims in the southern part of the country. Ihsanoglu urged OIC member states to accord greater importance to Muslim minority issues in non-member states through bilateral relations with these countries to help these minorities preserve their rights and interests.
