EDITORIAL

Addressing a press conference at the OIC Headquarters, after a meeting with the OIC Secretary General, Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz rightly emphasised the need for restructuring the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to make it a vibrant organisation of the Muslim Ummah. While saying so, he is reported to have also recalled that President General Pervez Musharraf had presented the concept of enlightened moderation while addressing the OIC meeting in Malaysia last year. In so recalling the situation, only a year ago, he was undoubtedly referring to the correctness of the approach as sounded by the President. For not only did he put forward the concept of enlightened moderation, but also adopted a number of enabling measures to prove his point.
As the Prime Minister rightly stated this concept is getting support within the organisation, emphasising the need for making it more effective to face the negative propaganda by the Western media. Recalling that after the 9/11 incident, there has been misunderstanding about Islam in the world, thus making it necessary for the OIC to play an effective role in projecting Islam as a religion of peace, moderation and harmony. If Pakistan can benefit from this bold and correct approach, so can all the other OIC countries. For one thing, sanity in one direction can prove instrumental in correcting the vision on vital front, including socio-economic and political planes too. This should become all the more evident from the overall difference it has made in Pakistan.
It will be noted that in his keynote address to the Jeddah Economic Forum (JEC), Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz made it a point to recall that five years of wide-ranging economic and structural reforms in Pakistan transformed the country into an exciting and resurgent economy, with confidence of domestic and foreign investors in it ascending to new heights, and a massive upsurge in economic activity never witnessed before. Again, recalling the difficult times in the recent past that had taken its economy on the brink of a collapse, described how under the dedicated and sincere leadership of President General Pervez Musharraf, the new team of economic managers, working with honesty of purpose and sense of devotion, managed to turn Pakistan into an economically stronger and politically stable country. There can hardly be any two opinions about the success story of revival of the badly battered economy, which was found to have hit the abyss of degeneration. Similarly, there can be no denying the fact that reforms introduced during the last five years have started showing the desired results, at least, in so far as the much improved macroeconomic environment and acceleration in economic growth are concerned. It will also be noted that his assertion that the confidence of the domestic and foreign investors has been gaining momentum from stable macroeconomic environment will appeal to reason.
This should be all the more so, because these observations have been voiced by the man who has been at the helm of the country's economic affairs during the challenging five years. However, although he has not boasted of any personal role in the incredible turn as brought about in the situation, independent observers can draw their own conclusions in so far as the stewardship of the economy is concerned. It will thus be seen that in assigning what then appeared to have been sort of a mission impossible, President Musharraf, chose the right person for the job. Now that economic activity has been revived, and the industrial sector is growing in the range of 16 to 18 per cent annually, little would be left to doubt about the prospect of the economy likely to grow around 7 per cent this year, as he has predicted. Now that the difficult times for the country's fragile economy are over, thanks to the brave exercise completed under his unfailing efforts, the earlier predicament, as worsening from burgeoning debt burden, and other inconsistencies, has become part of history, the happy tidings he gave of the outcome of the new-generation reforms should inspire new confidence in the future triumphs on the economic front. All in all, the Prime Minister's call for restructuring the OIC should beckon all the member nations of the organisation to pay due heed to it.