Monks Protest in Myanmar against O.I.C .

History and goals
Since the 19th century, some Muslims had aspired to ummah to serve their common political, economic, and social interests. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate after World War I left a vacuum for a pan-Islamic institution. Losing the Six-Day War in 1967 provided the incentive needed. Leaders of Muslim nations met in Rabat to establish the OIC on 25 September 1969.^[2]
According to its charter, the OIC aims to preserve Islamic social and economic values; promote solidarity amongst member states; increase cooperation in social, economic, cultural, scientific, and political areas; uphold international peace and security; and advance education, particularly in the fields of science and technology.^[2]
The flag of the OIC (shown above) has an overall green background (symbolic of Islam). In the centre, there is an upward-facing red crescent enveloped in a white disc. On the disc the words "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is Great") are written in Arabic calligraphy.
On 5 August 1990, 45 foreign ministers of the OIC adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam to serve as a guidance for the member states in the matters of human rights in as much as they are compatible with the Sharia, or Quranic Law.^[3]
On 24 February 2009, the International Zakat Organization, in cooperation with the Organisation of the Islamic Conferences, announced the selection of the BMB Group to head up the management of the Global Zakat and Charity Fund, with its CEO Rayo Withanage becoming the co-chairman of the zakat fund. The fund is expected to contain 2 billion ringgits in 2010, about US$650 million.^[4]
It changed its name on 28 June 2011 from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (Arabic: منظمة المؤتمر الإسلامي‎; French: Organisation de la Conférence Islamique) to its current name.^[5]

[edit] Member states

 

Demonstrations against the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation spread to the country’s second-largest city on Friday, as thousands of Buddhist monks and laypeople in Mandalay marched to protest the group’s plans to open an office in the former capital Rangoon.
The demonstration came as monks in Sittwe, the capital of western Burma’s conflict-ridden Rakhine state, renewed anti-OIC protests following communal violence in neighboring Bangladesh.
The protesters in Mandalay, who demonstrated peacefully for two hours in an unauthorized march and then dispersed, condemned the OIC plan to open an office in the former capital of Rangoon as an effort to create a foothold in Burma for a religion “under the influence of a foreign power” and pleaded for greater unity among Burma’s ethnic groups.
Friday's march marked the second anti-Muslim protest by Buddhist monks in Mandalay in recent weeks.
"We already have a problem with unity,” said Ashin Wiriya Biwunntha, a monk belonging to the Myawaddy monastery who took part in the Mandalay protest.
“And if the OIC opens its office here, the disunity among us will get worse,” he said.
Noting that the Burmese government and parliament have said they are “listening to the people’s voices,” Ashin Wiriya said, “We have to express our will so that the government can take action.”
Burmese authorities did not grant permission for the protest, but stood by without incident while the number of participants swelled from 500 to about 2,000 as more monks and laypeople joined the march.