Updated: December 1, 2020 7:03:59 am
Then-Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as guest of honor at the OIC Foreign Ministers Meeting in Abu Dhabi in 2019 (Express File).
On Sunday, India criticized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for making factually incorrect and unjustified references to Jammu and Kashmir. The 47th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on 27-29 November in Niamey, Niger, had made a reference to India about its policies on J&K.
In a statement, India recommended to the OCI that refrain from making such references going forward and said that it is regrettable that the group continues to allow itself to be used by a certain country “which has an abominable record of religious tolerance, radicalism and persecution of minorities.” This was a reference to Pakistan.
What is the ICO?
The OIC, formerly the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is the second largest intergovernmental organization in the world after the UN, with a membership of 57 states. The stated objective of the OIC is “to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various peoples of the world.” The OIC has reserved membership for Muslim majority countries. Russia, Thailand and a couple of other small countries have observer status.
What is India’s relationship with the ICO as an organization?
At the 45th session of the Foreign Ministers’ Summit in 2018, Bangladesh, the host, suggested that India, where more than 10% of the world’s Muslims live, should be granted Observer status, but Pakistan opposed the proposal. .
In 1969, India was withdrawn from the invitation of the Conference of Islamic Countries in Rabat, Morocco, at the behest of Pakistan. The then Agriculture Minister, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, was withdrawn from the invitation upon his arrival in Morocco after Pakistani President Yahya Khan lobbied against Indian participation.
In 2019, India made its first appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers meeting as a “guest of honor”. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the Opening Plenary in Abu Dhabi on March 1, 2019, after being invited by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Foreign Minister. The Foreign Ministry said at the time that the invitation was a “welcome recognition of the presence of 185 million Muslims in India and their contribution to its pluralistic spirit, and of India’s contribution to the Islamic world.”
This invitation was for the first time seen as a diplomatic victory for New Delhi, especially at a time of intense tensions with Pakistan following the Pulwama attack. Pakistan had opposed the invitation to Swaraj, and its foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, boycotted the plenary after the United Arab Emirates rejected his demand to rescind the invitation. 📣 Follow Express explained on Telegram
What is the OIC’s position on Kashmir?
In general, he has supported Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and issued statements criticizing the alleged Indian “atrocities” in the state / territory of the Union. These declarations over the last three decades became an annual ritual, of little importance to India.
Last year, after India revoked Article 370 in Kashmir, Pakistan lobbied the OIC to condemn the measure. To the surprise of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both top leaders among Muslim countries, issued nuanced statements and were not as harshly critical of New Delhi as Islamabad had hoped.
Over the past year, Islamabad has tried to stir up sentiment among Islamic countries, but only a handful of them, Turkey and Malaysia, publicly criticized India.
Also at the 2019 Mecca summit, the OIC criticized alleged Indian “atrocities” in the state.
In 2018, the OIC General Secretariat had “voiced strong condemnation of the slaughter of innocent Kashmiris by Indian forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir,” describing the “direct shooting at protesters” as a “terrorist act. “And” called upon the international community to play its role in reaching a just and lasting solution to the Kashmir conflict. “
The 2017 session of the OIC Foreign Ministers adopted a resolution “reaffirming the unwavering support of the people of Kashmir in their just cause” and “expressing deep concern over the egregious human rights violations committed by the Indian occupation forces since 1947 “.
At the 2018 meeting in Dhaka, however, “Jammu and Kashmir” was featured in just one of 39 resolutions adopted, along with 12 other states or regions around the world. Pakistan accused Bangladesh of distributing the text too late. Even the Abu Dhabi resolution, adopted the day after Swaraj’s intervention, condemned “atrocities and human rights violations” in Kashmir.
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How has India responded to these criticisms?
India has consistently stressed that J&K is an “integral part of India and is strictly an internal Indian affair”. The force with which India has made this claim has varied slightly at times, but never the central message. It has maintained its “consistent and well-known” position that the ICO had no locus standi,
On this occasion, India took a step forward and said that the group continues to allow itself to be used by a certain country “which has an abominable record of religious tolerance, radicalism and persecution of minorities.”
What is India’s relationship with the OIC member countries?
Individually, India has good relations with almost all member nations. Ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, especially, have improved significantly in recent years.
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was a very special keynote guest at the 68th Republic Day celebrations in 2017, the first time India laid out the Republic Day red carpet for a leader who he was neither head of state nor head of government. The Crown Prince had visited India in February 2016, following a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United Arab Emirates in August 2015.
Days before the OIC’s invitation to Swaraj in 2019, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had visited India. The invitation may have been an important result of the MBS visit, as well as being an indication of India’s improved ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Before Swaraj’s visit to Abu Dhabi, a report by the Emirates’ official news agency described India as a “friendly country” of “great global political stature.” The Foreign Ministry had said that the invitation indicated “the desire of the enlightened leaders of the UAE to go beyond our ever closer bilateral ties and to forge a truly multifaceted partnership at the multilateral and international level” and a “milestone in our comprehensive strategic partnership with the UAE. “
The OIC includes two close neighbors of India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Indian diplomats say both countries privately admit that they do not want to complicate their bilateral relations with India in Kashmir, but are playing the game of the OIC.
What is the meaning of the latest statement from India?
India now sees the duality of the OIC as untenable as many of these countries have good bilateral relations and convey to India to ignore the OIC statements, but approve of the joint statements largely drawn up by Pakistan.
Sunday’s New Delhi statement addressed to the OIC grouping as led by Pakistan should be read in that context. South Block believes it is important to challenge double standards, as Pakistan’s campaign and currency on the Kashmir issue have almost no participants in the international community.
India also wants to challenge this issue because of the possibility that the Joe Biden administration in the US, which may have a strong opinion on human rights in Kashmir, could issue statements that may complicate India’s image on the stage. world.
With New Delhi preparing to assume a non-permanent membership seat on the UN Security Council, it wants to use its diplomatic influence and goodwill to bury this issue in the global body in the next two years, and bring up the sponsored cross. for Pakistan. -Border terrorism high on the agenda.
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