Pakistan threatens to hold own meet if OIC does not discuss the Kashmir issue

Pakistan has threatened to call a separate meeting of Islamic nations willing to discuss the Kashmir issue if the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) fails to do so soon.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, asked the OIC to stop dilly-dallying on convening a meeting of the group’s Council of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir. That day, Qureshi told reporters, “I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.”

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Islamabad’s veiled message to the leadership of Saudi Arabia--the current chair of OIC--came after the latter refused to convene a Kashmir-specific session. People in the know said Pakistan’s stance is backed by Turkey.

Saudi Arabia’s ties with India are on an upswing and it backs New Delhi’s stand that Kashmir is its domestic matter. The UAE, Oman, and some North African and West Asian nations are among the other Muslim-majority nations backing India on this. India also has tacit support from Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim nation.

In response to a reporter’s query, Qureshi also said that Pakistan could not wait any further and threatened that if the OIC fails to summon the CFM meeting, Pakistan would be ready to go for a session outside OIC.

The minister recalled that Pakistan skipped the Kuala Lumpur summit in December on Saudi Arabia’s request and “now Pakistani Muslims are demanding of Riyadh to show leadership on the issue”.

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But challenging Riyadh may prove costly for Islamabad, according to Tilak Devasher, who has authored four books on Pakistan.

“Querishi is articulating the frustration of Pakistan at the developments in J&K since last year and their inability to get international support. There is growing criticism in Pakistan at the abject failure of Pak foreign policy on the issue,” Devasher said. “As foreign minister, SMQ is the focus of such criticism. Hence his outburst showing how aggressive he is on Kashmir. In the process, he could damage Pak-Saudi relations severely.”

In May, Maldives had initiated a move to oppose Pakistan's rant against India at the OIC meet. Saudi Arabia and the UAE (once traditional allies of Pakistan) had backed the stand taken by Maldives, a sign of their expanding ties with New Delhi. Oman, India's oldest strategic partner in the Gulf region, is believed to have stated at the meet that the discourse is part of India’s internal affairs, according to sources.

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A number of other countries from the OIC had not responded to Pakistan’s initiative led by its permanent representative (PR) at the UN. Interestingly, UAE’s decision to back India had drawn a backlash from Pakistan-based social media. The UAE had chaired the virtual meeting of the PRs on May 19.

(Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com)

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