Charter of the Confederation of the Islamic Countries and the allies (CICA)

Background

Appendix-A reveals that the combined military forces of the Muslim countries is not weaker than any of the superpowers of the present world. Most of the world's Muslim countries are connected by land and the sum of their individual borders is much longer than the sum of their borders at periphery common with non-Muslim countries. This indicates a strong possibility of reducing the defense budget if Muslim countries adopt a unified approach supplemented with a special arrangements for other Muslim countries isolated from each other. Moreover, the area is rich in oil and mineral resources that attract superpowers to play nasty games and show ugly muscle power. These facts indicate how important it is for Muslim countries to come under a single umbrella of military forces. The challenge is only to materialise it with the highest level of transparency so that every member country feels secure and financially benefited but sacrifices almost nothing regarding sovereignty. Here is a draft proposal to form a confederation of Islamic countries to achieve the said target and a lot more.

1. Government    Return

All the member countries of the Confederation of the Islamic Countries and the allies (CICA) shall first be divided into the regions, for example, SE Asia, South Asia & Iran, Central Asia, West Asia & Albania, North Africa, and the rest of Africa. A House of Representatives (HoR) shall be constituted in CICA headquarter with representatives of the member countries, hereafter called the member of the HoR (MHoR). The speakers of the house shall be elected for two years by the majority votes of the MHoRs. The MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives from each region shall elect one of them as their regional representative in the federal government, hereafter called Cabinet Member. The cabinet members thus elected from the different regions shall form the government, hereafter called the Federal Government or FG. Cabinet member having maximum votes among them shall act as the President of the federal government, and anything endorsed by him shall be considered as the views of the FG Federal Government .

For all elections mentioned in this charter, the vote of an MHoRMember of the House of Representatives shall be his country's population in millions + 10 but not more than 100 million, and that of a cabinet member shall be the sum of such votes cast in his favour by the MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives. This voting criterion is a compromise regarding the relative importance of the member countries having a wide variation of population. Each policy decision of the FG Federal Government shall require at least a two-thirds majority of votes of all the MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives. FG Federal Government shall run the government following the policy decision passed in the HoR House of Representatives . The cabinet members shall require at least a two-thirds majority to agree on every decision they make. The session of the HoR House of Representatives shall be held bi-monthly and in an emergency if desired by the President. Any addition, deletion or amendment of anything in this charter in part or in full shall require at least a two-thirds majority of all the MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives.

An MHoR Member of the House of Representatives is always free to revoke his vote at any time and cast the same in favour of another member from his region. Any such change in votes shall be taken into account immediately to reconstitute the government following the rules above.

2. Membership    Return

Any Muslim majority country can be a member of the CICA. Non-muslim countries neighbouring a member country can also be the member by a two-thirds majority of votes of MHoRs from the Muslim countries only. This membership is subject to the conditions described in section-11. Any existing member willing to forgo its membership can do so at any time, but restoring the membership by a Muslim or a Non-muslim country shall require respectively a two-thirds or a three-fourths majority of votes of MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives from the Muslim countries only.

3. Security from the aggression of nonmember countries    Return

The following measures shall be taken to protect the member countries from the aggression of nonmember countries.

• Command of the defence personnel (Army, Navy, Airforce, Intelligence and the support personnel) of all the member countries shall be in the hand of the FG Federal Government and its appointed chiefs of Army, Navy and Air forces at central, regional and national levels.
• FG Federal Government shall ensure that the defence personnel are not involved in national politics.
• Defence personnel and their chiefs at the national level shall usually work in their own country during peace. But during war or other emergencies, they may temporarily be transferred by their regional or central commanders within their jurisdiction.
• The FG Federal Government shall bear salaries, allowances, and other benefits of the defence personnel above the national level, and the respective national governments shall bear this cost for the remaining.
• When transferred outside the country, armed forces shall move in units with all their armaments to work in the new place of posting at the expense of FG. This expense shall include the transportation cost for both the ways, salaries and allowances in the pay scale of FG payable direct to the personnel and the rent for the accompanied armament payable to the country belonging to the forces.
• The beneficiary countries shall reimburse all the expenses of the FG as mentioned in this section.
• FG Federal Government and its commanders at all levels shall update the threat perception for each member country. Based on this, they shall revise the strategic plan for the deployment of forces during peace and the reinforcement plan during the war, considering the remoteness of the source of reinforcement and its connectivity. They shall also implement the plan accordingly to safeguard the national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and international rights of the member countries at a reasonable cost.
• In conjunction with the plan for the deployment of forces mentioned above, the commanders shall also assess the adequacy of appropriate types of arms and ammunition, fighting and transport vehicles, artillery, aircraft, warships and the consumables like rockets, missiles, torpedoes etc. Any surplus having significant service life may be sold to other member countries having deficits at a depreciated price payable in equal instalments within their estimated service life against a bilateral loan agreement signed by the governments concerned. In case of failure to meet the deficiency in this way, the country concerned shall be required to procure the same at its own cost or take a loan from FG payable in suitable instalments.
• Entire armed forces under the command of FG Federal Government shall remain fully prepared with all armaments to take part in the war at any place at short notice.
• Member-country willing to reduce its strength of armed forces shall require the permission of the FG. If permitted, the desiring country shall be required to pay its neighbouring member countries half of the savings as may be estimated by the FG every year, in due consideration of the depreciated value of the armaments and the inflated cost for the salary of the personnel for inflation of money. This money shall be distributed among the neighbouring member countries in proportion to the length of borders with the desiring country.
• FG Federal Government shall patronise the companies of Muslim ownership within its jurisdiction in all possible ways to produce high-quality armaments and the other essentials for war and internal security and to upgrade and maintain them. FG shall also pursue the reputed company from outside its jurisdiction to manufacture their goods within the jurisdiction in a joint venture with the companies of Muslim ownership. FG shall also arrange the sale of these goods and services to the member countries at a marginal profit and in suitable instalments wherever possible.
• In case of any dispute between a member and a nonmember country, FG Federal Government shall help both countries in all possible ways to reach an amicable solution. In case of failure, FG, with all its members, shall support the claim of the member country placed before any international legal platform, provided the claim is passed in HoR House of Representatives by the majority votes of MHoRs Members of the House of Representatives. In case the verdict goes in favour of the member country and the nonmember country keeps on disregarding it, FG, as a last resort, may declare war against the nonmember country if the member country wants so.

4. Security from the aggression of member countries    Return

If two or more member countries disputing with each other fail to reach an amicable solution, the matter shall be referred to the FG Federal Government. FG shall try their best to convince them to come to a solution. If they fail, the matter shall be debated in the HoR House of Representatives by the members and the hired experts and ended by taking a resolution based on the majority votes of all the members in HoR. The opponent countries shall either abide by this resolution or keep on contesting in the appropriate international platform, whose verdict shall be binding for all the opponent countries. Under no circumstances FG shall allow its member country to start a battle with another. If necessary, FG shall not hesitate to apply forces against the violator at the violator's expense.

5. Foreign and trade policy    Return

FG Federal Government shall not usually interfere in the foreign and trade policies of the member countries unless it becomes obvious to safeguard the general interest of the member countries. If supported by at least two-thirds of votes in HoR House of Representatives, FG may take a stand on any international, multinational, or bilateral issue or impose embargoes against diplomatic relations or trades of certain goods with certain countries, all of which are mandatory for the member countries to comply with. The defaulters are liable to be censured or warned, or expelled from CICA as may be decided by the HoR having the two-thirds majority of votes. However, the member countries sustaining monetary loss for these embargoes shall be compensated by the remaining member countries in proportion to their GDP.

6. Minority Policy    Return

FG Federal Government shall pursue the member countries for equal treatment of their citizens irrespective of religion, race and colour, which is the beauty of Islam. If necessary, FG may ask the armed forces working locally to monitor the matter and intervene in case of gross violation.

FG shall do everything possible under the international laws and practices to safeguard the rights of the Muslims living in nonmember countries. FG shall also spend money for their welfare if permitted by their government. The money spent on this ground shall be borne by the member countries in proportion to their GDP.

In the event of abuse of Islam, its values or its prophet by someone in a nonmember country, neither the FG nor its member countries shall publicly react. FG shall try to stop such nuisance using diplomatic channels, and in case of failure, FG shall discuss the matter in the HoR House of Representatives and take action accordingly against the country committing the offence.

7. Education    Return

FG Federal Government shall establish a world-class university, a school from the infant to pre-university level, a vocational institute and other institutions to serve the following objectives. Their medium of instruction shall be English.

• The FG Federal Government shall establish a school for the infants to pre-university students outside the Arab world but more or less equidistant from the member countries. Here, apart from the subjects usually taught in school, Muslim students of the member countries shall also study the Quran, the historical relevance of the Quranic verses and Arabic, the latter being at least enough to understand the Quran correctly. In school, the students shall not only be taught the morals of Islam but also be practised accordingly right from their childhood. Further, before leaving the school, the students shall clearly understand how the teaching of the Quran makes their lives so peaceful and meaningful, which otherwise would never be possible. The objectives of this school shall be as follows.
• Preparation of course of studies and publication of books written by highly reputed scholars for all classes from the infants to pre-university level on the subjects generally taught in the member countries, including Arabic to understand the Quran, IT and the hygiene, and a few more for this school on the subjects of local interest.
• Research on the technique of teaching the prescribed course of studies with the simultaneous building of character¹ of the students in accordance with the Islamic values by the most competent teachers, and publishing online the most satisfactory method documented live in classrooms in audio-video format accompanied with teaching guides in detail. The videos shall contain teacher-student interactions, laboratory and outside activities and plenty of HD quality still and animated pictures for an easy and clear understanding of the subject matter. The member countries may readily use these books and videos or dub the videos into the local language, edit the ebooks and print them, keeping the images as they are. All these course materials shall be beneficial to the students if presented in the class by projectors following instructions in the teaching guides.
  ¹Note: The relevant experts may also think of preparing a standard list of do’s and don’ts for the students to recite in chorus, preferably outside the classrooms before the class begins in the morning.
• The objective of the vocational institute shall be preparing and publishing online videos of HD quality on the following subjects so that the member countries can dub them into their languages and publish them online again for local use.
• Procedural details of manufacturing goods of everyday use with the theoretical background to promote small entrepreneurship.
• Trade courses in repair and maintenance of electric and electronic appliances, refrigeration and air-conditioning, computer application, system setup and troubleshooting, computer programming, car maintenance and repair, and many more, systematically with sufficient detail and in-depth theoretical background.
• Students from the member countries and the aforesaid school shall be admitted to the university in order of merit and the quota allotted for each member country in proportion to their population. The objective of this university shall be as follows.
• Ensuring world-class education on various subjects.
• Production of documentary films of HD quality on daily lectures in the classrooms and the student activities in and outside the laboratories and publishing the same for the online students.
• Research and publications on all issues beneficial for mankind, including Islam divided presently into various schools of conflicting thoughts², on the verses of the Quran that speaks about the scientific truth, which could not yet be proved by the present level of knowledge in science, and also on the verses that might have a deeper meaning than that usually thought.
  ²Note: No scripture was in existence for the Muslims in the early period of Islam except the Quran, the only compilation of the divine verses addressing all the aspects of human life and protected from any sort of human intervention by the almighty Allah Himself, as per His commitment in the verse number 15:9. The researchers shall unearth the historical reasons for all these conflicting thoughts and find ways and means to bring everybody back under the single umbrella of the Quran once again and also to minimise the misunderstandings of the Non-muslims about the Muslims.
• Establishment of a pharmaceutical research and development laboratory of international standards.
• Developing ways and means to get rid of all sorts of obscene materials available online in any of the textual, audio or video form or any combination of them.
• Arrangement of online live courses on all major languages from two centres, one in Asia and the other in Africa, to facilitate the students living in different time zones.
• The member countries shall bear the expenses for all the works described in this section in proportion to their population.

8. Health    Return

Taking advantage of the vast market, FG Federal Government shall exploit all the possibilities to procure at the expense of the member countries their periodical requirements of medicines and the chemicals with other essentials for clinical laboratories, all of the proven quality at a competitive price through international tender. FG shall also arrange video consultations for critical patients in the member countries with the internationally reputed physicians living abroad at the expense of the patients, using existing online facilities and local doctors appointed by the FG to act as interpreters.

9. Civil works    Return

FG Federal Government shall extend its full cooperation to the member countries to get connected by land or rail route and undertake any project for the mutual benefits of two or more of them at the expense of the beneficiary countries.

10. Finance    Return

Any country eligible for membership of CICA vide section-2 shall open an account in the Bank established by the FG Federal Government with an initial deposit of at least 0.5% of its GDP to meet the expenses of the FG Federal Government as mentioned above. Every six months, the Bank shall submit a statement of expenditure of each member country to its representative in HoR House of Representatives. The Bank shall notify the member country to deposit another 0.5% of its GDP, in the possibility of its balance becoming minus in the following two months.

11. Undertakings    Return

By becoming a member of the CICA, every member country shall undertake the obligation of complying with all the rules and regulations of this charter, including the additions, alterations and the amendments as may be made as described in section-1, failing which the defaulter shall be liable to be censured or warned or expelled from CICA by the HoR House of Representatives having at least the two-third majority of votes of theMHoRs Members of the House of Representatives.