Pakistan’s government of Imran Khan was quick to release a statement on Saturday night regarding the Jammu and Kashmir references in a resolution that it said had been approved by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the meeting of foreign ministers. in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry was the first to tweet, celebrating the usual references to Kashmir as a major victory.
“The inclusion of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in the Niamey Declaration, which is an important part of the final documents of the CFM (Council of Foreign Ministers), is another manifestation of the constant support of @OIC_OCI for the Cause of Kashmir “the Pakistani Foreign Office tweeted.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who has had to face some embarrassing moments at home from the OIC’s refusal to discuss Kashmir as a separate topic on Sunday morning.
There has not yet been a statement from the OIC Secretariat on the resolution passed by the 57-member body.
Indian officials said New Delhi would not be surprised if the final OIC resolution contains customary references to Kashmir claimed by Islamabad, but stressed that it was significant that Jammu and Kashmir was not discussed as a separate item on the agenda, something the government Imran Khan’s had become a matter of prestige.
Pakistan has been demanding a special OIC meeting of foreign ministers on Kashmir since India repealed Article 370 extending special status to Jammu and Kashmir, but it has not been successful. It was in this desperation to get the OIC to hold the special meeting that led Foreign Minister Qureshi to cross the line in August this year when he threatened to hold a gathering of Muslim countries outside the OIC platform that angered Saudi Arabia.
The Imran Khan government tried to persuade the OIC to allow it to hold a side event in Kashmir when preparations for the OIC foreign ministers from November 27 to 28 were still underway. But Niger refused, insisting that they had made a thoughtful decision not to hold any side events. Niger had not been overly fond of Pakistan’s effort to use the OIC to set its national agenda, people familiar with New Delhi’s diplomatic counteroffensive told the Hindustan Times.
Pakistan did not surrender and deployed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to try to convince Saudi leaders to intervene on its behalf.
Saudi Arabia, however, annoyed with Pakistan’s efforts to create a parallel forum, was in no mood to budge. The Saudi leadership went one step further and advised Islamabad not to try to hijack the forum. Qureshi was told that Islamabad should expect nothing more than the usual references to Kashmir.
Terrorism was the main theme of the two-day conference; The Secretary General of the OIC, Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, described terrorism as the most serious threat to the region and the world.
Diplomats who were following the OIC conference said that many OIC countries indicated their disgust at Pakistan’s refusal to curb the terror and encouragement of fundamentalists in the country, the treatment of minorities and the harsh blasphemy laws. that the Arab nations have since resigned. Pakistan tried to target India during the discussion on combating violence, extremism, terrorism and Islamophobia, but some countries indirectly asked Islamabad to speak out on allegations that it provided continued support to elements designated as terrorists by the UN sanctions committee.
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