‘Can’t wait anymore’: Pak FM warns Saudi, says will move ahead with or without you, urges OIC to unite on Kashmir

Earlier this week, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured his country’s support for Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue in a telephonic conversation with Pakistan’s President Dr. Arif Alvi.

“President Dr Arif Alvi and President Erdogan exchanged Eidul Azha greetings in a telephonic conversation. Important matters including Kashmir and Covid-19 were discussed,” a tweet from President’s official handle read.

“I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris,” the report quoted Qureshi as having said.

Qureshi, according to the report, said that if OIC cannot stand by Pakistan, Pakistan would be ready to go for a session outside OIC, it cannot wait any further.

Ever since the government of India abrogated the Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories, Pakistan has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 57-member bloc of Muslim countries, which is the second-largest intergovernmental body after the United Nations.

The OIC is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states. The organisation states that it is “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”

According to a recently released report by Kashmir’s human rights group,  Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), Kashmir has seen at least 229 killings during more than 100 military operations since January 2020.

The Global Village Space report said that as India is allowing outsiders to hold properties and jobs with 25000 domicile certificates in JK, efforts are being made to change the demography of the erstwhile state.

According to the report, the reason behind the failure to call the foreign ministers’ meeting has been Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to accept Pakistan’s request for one specifically on Kashmir.

“Riyadh’s support is crucial for any move at the OIC, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries,” the report suggests.

As OIC cannot stand by Pakistan, Qureshi said that Pakistan skipped Kuala Lumpur Summit last December on Saudi request and now Pakistani Muslims are demanding of Riyadh to “show leadership on the issue”.

“We have our own sensitivities. You have to realize this. Gulf countries should understand this,” the foreign minister was quoted by the report as having said, adding that he could no more indulge in diplomatic niceties.

Quoting articles written for a Delhi based Newspaper The Indian Express, by Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, a senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King’s India Institute, London, and Haider Abbas Rizvi, an Uttar Pradesh-based Information Commissioner, the report said that Muslim countries with which India had increasingly good relations have become less friendly but, at the same time, Pakistan was able to seek diplomatic support in order to present its case for Jammu and Kashmir.

The report further said that Muslim countries including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia, argues Professor Jaffrelot, have expressed severe reservations over what is going on in India.

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