NEW DELHI: India’s longstanding demand of being included in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) as an observer has found support from Bangladesh and Turkey . The two countries have joined hands to seek reforms of the 57-nation grouping including a suggestion to concede the demand of India , which is home to the world’s third largest Muslim population.At the OIC foreign ministers’ conference last weekend, Bangladesh succeeded in pushing a declaration to this effect with the help of Turkey, which has traditionally been an ally of Pakistan but has of late sought expansion of ties with India. Turkey’s decision to support OIC reforms, according to experts, should also be viewed in the context of fast-evolving geopolitics in West Asia.While Bangladesh has been categorical in seeking observer status for India in OIC, several other members have offered their tacit support. These member states are yet to openly voice support for India, but experts said these states have come a long way from 1960s to consider India’s inclusion in the grouping as an observer.Several OIC member states have also expressed reservations against a strong OIC resolution on Kashmir. India’s ties with West Asian, North African and Southeast Asian Muslim majority states such as Indonesia and Malaysia are on the upswing and these nations have come forward to forge strong counter-terrorism and commercial partnerships during the past few years.Addressing the OIC foreign ministers’ meet, Bangladesh foreign minister AH Mahmud Ali said last Saturday, “A number of countries – not OIC members – have a large number of Muslims as their citizens. Muslims may be a minority in those countries, but in terms of numbers they often exceed the total population of many OIC member countries.”Advocating India’s entry into the grouping, he said, “There is a need to build bridges with those non-OIC countries, so that a large number of Muslim populations do not remain untouched by the good work of OIC. That is why, reforms and restructuring are critical for OIC.”“As the world is changing in many ways, infringing upon every area of a peaceful society, life, development, we cannot do business as usual. We need to rethink our work, method and process of functioning to cater to the needs of the current era and beyond. Otherwise, we risk situating our organisation in redundancy,” he said.