OIC session dragged into no-trust mudslinging

The joint opposition said on Saturday that Pakistan’s internal situation and political turmoil would not be allowed to affect the upcoming meeting of the OIC foreign ministers, hours after the PPP chairman warned of disrupting the conference if the National Assembly session on the opposition’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan was not convened by Monday (tomorrow).

The opposition issued a joint statement to do away with the impression that it was trying to impede the OIC meeting. The statement said that the opposition warmly welcomed the delegates and other dignitaries to the 48th meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM).

Earlier in the day, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while talking to the media after an opposition parties’ meeting in Islamabad, warned that if the National Assembly speaker did not allow the tabling of the no-confidence motion on Monday, he would ask his party and the other opposition parties to stage a sit-in in front of the National Assembly.

“We will see how they [the government] hold the OIC conference,” Bilawal said while standing alongside National Assembly Opposition Leader and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other leaders.

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Bilawal said that the opposition would not let the speaker use any excuse to violate the Constitution, law and the National Assembly Rules. He said that on Monday, the speaker should allow the tabling of the no-confidence motion. Otherwise, he added, he would ask his “party and other opposition parties” not to leave the assembly hall and continue sitting there till the law was acted upon.

The OIC-CFM session would be held in the National Assembly Hall on March 22-23. The delegates, including the foreign ministers from the member countries of the 57-nation Muslim bloc would start arriving in federal capital on Monday (tomorrow). In order to do away with the impression that the joint opposition was trying to impede the OIC conference, the opposition issued the statement, saying that the arrival of distinguished guests “is a source of joy and pride for us”, and that they looked forward to welcoming the “esteemed guests”.

The statement said that the opposition would warmly welcome the foreign ministers, delegates and other dignitaries of the Islamic world to Pakistan on the occasion of the 48th OIC-CFM. The opposition appreciated their [delegates] spirit and determination that they were coming to Islamabad on the 22nd and 23rd March, 2022 to deliberate on important issues facing the Islamic world, including Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine.

“Representing the people of Pakistan, the United Opposition assures that the whole of Pakistan will warmly welcome the participants on their arrival. During their stay in Islamabad, a conducive atmosphere, in accordance with the traditional spirit of hospitality, respect and zeal, will be ensured.”
The opposition pledged that it would “do its utmost to create an atmosphere in which the distinguished guests will be able to carry out their activities with full attention, dedication and determination,” the statement added.

In order to “welcome and honour the distinguished guests” of the OIC, the statement pointed out that the opposition parties changed the dates of their proposed long march and directed their workers not to come to Islamabad before March 25.

They assured that “Pakistan’s internal political situation and political turmoil” would not be allowed to affect the OIC in any way. They expressed the hope that the stay of the esteemed guests in Islamabad would be pleasant and they would “return home with good memories”.

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Later, a spokesperson for the PPP chairman, also issued a separate statement to clarify the party’s position on the matter. He said that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was not against the OIC conference but against the government’s escape from the no-confidence motion under the guise of OIC conference.
PPP spokesperson Zulfiqar Ali Badar said, “is the party that reinvigorated” the OIC and gave it a new life. Badar recalled that former prime minister late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, grandfather of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, gave an identity to the OIC.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to postpone the no-confidence motion till April on the pretext of the OIC meeting and that he was talking to the National Assembly speaker in this regard. However, he added: “We will not allow Imran Khan to do that.” “If the speaker of the National Assembly delays the no-confidence motion under the guise of the OIC meeting, then there will be a reaction,” the spokesperson said. He added that it would be the “funeral of the change” in March, otherwise there will be ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’.

He said that if Imran Khan took cover of the OIC conference to save himself, it would be a misuse of the aims and objectives of the Muslim bloc. He added that the no-confidence motion was “a democratic, legal and constitutional right that cannot be taken away from us under the guise of anything.