MPR leadership condemns civilian attacks and calls on the OIC to be vigilant

Wakil Ketua Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (MPR) RI Hidayat Nur Wahid (HNW) condemned attacks on civilian targets and economic facilities in the Middle East and reminded member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to be vigilant against a strategy of sowing discord that could widen the conflict. HNW highlighted attacks on economic facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, including the Ras Tanura refinery owned by Aramco and Qatar Energy’s LNG production, as well as attacks on civilian targets such as a girls’ school in Minab and Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, Iran. “A strategy of sowing discord and attacks on civilian/economic/non-military targets is a pattern that has long been used by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza and elsewhere, and must be watched when this tactic is repeated in the war of Israel against Iran, where schools—even those specifically for girls—and hospitals have already been targeted by Israeli attacks,” he said in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday. “But Iran’s retaliatory strikes targeting vital non-military economic assets in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whichever party is responsible, must also be watched and strongly condemned, because attacks on non-military targets and on civilians clearly constitute violations of international law, are not in line with the UN Charter, the OIC Statute, and are not justified in Islam,” he added. He said that OIC member states in the Gulf region should heighten vigilance against alleged false-flag operations or fake-flag schemes that could drag these states into an open war and fracture internal solidarity. HNW also urged the United Nations (UN) and the OIC to take concrete and decisive steps to halt the escalation and to impose sanctions on those proven to have attacked non-military targets. “So that the war can be halted promptly and not spread further, causing more casualties, most of them civilians including vital non-military economic projects,” he said. He warned that the escalation of the conflict and divisions among OIC states could benefit a so-called expansionist agenda described as the ‘Greater Israel’ project, which is seen as potentially threatening the sovereignty of states in the region. Furthermore, HNW called on the OIC Secretariat-General to promptly initiate an extraordinary high-level conference to defuse the conflict and strengthen solidarity among member states. “It is important that Israel’s plots or conspiracies should instead remind OIC member states to cooperate quickly, strengthen the essence of their unity as OIC members founded to help each other and safeguard Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian independence, not to weaken one another,” he said. HNW emphasised that stopping attacks on civilian targets and strengthening solidarity among OIC members are urgent steps to prevent the conflict from spreading and to protect regional stability.