ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s bid to call an immediate meeting on Kashmir bySaudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation seems to have failed afterRiyadh showing reluctance to the move, according to a Pakistani mediareport on Thursday.
In December, there were plans to convene a meeting of the foreignministers of the OIC on Kashmir by Saudi Arabia, in an apparent move by thekingdom to please Pakistan which skipped a recent summit of Muslim nationsin Malaysia seen by Riyadh as an attempt to create a new bloc to replacethe 57-member grouping led by it.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had confirmed Pakistan’s participation in thesummit hosted by Malaysia, but skipped the event at the eleventh hour dueto pressure exerted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – keyfinancial backers of the cash-strapped country.
The report by Dawn News came ahead of the bloc’s senior officials’ meetingin Jeddah on February 9 to make preparations for the Council of ForeignMinisters (CFM).
Islamabad’s feeling of unease with the OIC over its failure to get theCFM’s meeting appears to be growing, as Riyadh was showing reluctance toconvene the meeting on Kashmir on Pakistan’s request, the report quoted adiplomatic source as saying.
The Jeddah-headquartered bloc, which is the second largestintergovernmental body after the UN, has usually been supportive ofPakistan and often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.
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Prime Minister Khan voiced frustration over the OIC’s silence on Kashmirduring his visit to Malaysia.
“The reason is that we have no voice and there is a total division amongst(us). We can’t even come together as a whole on the OIC meeting onKashmir,” he said this week.
Pakistan has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting on Kashmirsince India abrogated the special provisions of Kashmir in August last year.
