Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. PHOTO: FILE
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote to his counterpart in the UAE and expressed displeasure at the OIC invitation to India’s minister of internal affairs.
He said that “in continuation of my letter of 26 February, 2019 in which we conveyed our complete surprise on the invitation extended to the Minister for External Affairs of India to the Inaugural Plenary of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers and Pakistan’s rejection of this move”.
The letter further said that the “invitation was extended without consultation with member states and contrary to the rules of the OIC.”
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The foreign minister said that Pakistan’s concerns are also in line with the ”agreements related to observer and member status of the Organization which only allow countries that have resolved conflicts with OIC member states to have these privileges.”
He said: “India having conflict with at least one founding member state, as well as its treatment of minorities, especially Muslims, is eminently disqualified from any association with the OIC.”
The letter further highlighted the recent acts of Indian aggression against Pakistan and said, “[India’s] its treatment of Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Jammu Kashmir has been despicable. In this backdrop, the presence of India at the CFM Plenary is all the more unacceptable”.
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Pakistan’s Parliament’s demand has also been mentioned in the letter, “after India has attacked Pakistan, a founding member of the OIC, that India an egregious aggressor against Pakistan as well as against the Kashmiri people has been invited as a Guest of Honor at the forthcoming OIC Foreign Ministers’ inaugural meeting, and demands that Pakistan abstain completely under protest from the said meeting.”
In the end, Qureshi said,”I reiterate my request to rescind the invitation to India. Should that not happen, I will not be in a position to participate in the Conference.”
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