Role of OIC

Pakistan to boycott the meeting if invitation extended to India not withdrawn

What compelled the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to invite India as a ‘Guest of Honour’ to the two-day meeting of foreign ministers that begins in Abu Dhabi today? The controversial decision, whether taken by the OIC Secretariat or the host country, not only attracted unfavourable reaction but brings into question the role and mandate of OIC besides highlighting some contradictions in its policies.

What could be more annoying for Islamabad is the timing of the OIC gesture which comes at a time when both Pakistan and India are engaged in an armed conflict, if not a fully-fledged war.

Pakistan, however, has declared that it may have to boycott the meeting if the invitation extended to India to attend the inaugural session is not withdrawn.

In a letter addressed to the OIC the secretary general, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan had already informed the UAE about its reservation on India’s presence which is likely to compel Islamabad to stay away from the meeting.

Earlier, Senate Chairman Mohammad Sadiq Sanjrani sent separate letters to speakers and presiding officers of the parliaments of the OIC member states asking them to play a role in keeping India out of the OIC meeting.

It is not known who manipulated this OIC gesture; it, however, came coinciding with the Saudi Crown Prince’s visit to Pakistan and India and a few days after the Pulwama killings on February 14, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Besides, the OIC gesture seemed to be in clear contradiction with its earlier and repeated instance on the Kashmir issue.

Only on Tuesday, the General Secretariat of the OIC “condemned the Indian incursion and aerial violation and dropping of four bombs on, 26 February, 2019.”

The same day, the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, following its emergency meeting at Jeddah, condemned the killings of people and incidents of rape by Indian forces in India-occupied Kashmir. The group also called for an immediate end to “repressive security operations against the people of IoK.”

The decision also negates the mandate of the OIC which was established to safeguard the interests of its member states.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2019.

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