International

Saudi Arabia halts ‘oil on loan’ for Pakistan after Imran Khan threatens to split OIC over Kashmir

Pakistan had said if OIC cannot stand by Pakistan on Kashmir, the country will move on without it

Pakistan had asked Saudi to ‘stop delaying’ plans on convening OIC meeting for Kashmir

New Delhi: Saudi Arabia has halted the provision of oil on loan for Pakistan after the Imran Khan government threatened to split the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) over Kashmir. Pakistan had borrowed a $6.2 billion loan from Saudi Arabia in 2018.

The loan package included a provision under which Saudi Arabia granted Pakistan $3.2 billion worth of oil, a year on deferred payments. Pakistani media on Saturday said that the provision meant for Islamabad expired two months ago and has not been renewed by Riyadh.

Instead, Islamabad has prematurely returned $1 billion Saudi loan, four months ahead of repayment period, The Express Tribune said quoting sources and Sajid Qazi, the spokesperson of the Petroleum Division.

The OIC, the biggest bloc of Islamic countries in the world, has repeatedly declined Islamabad’s several requests to hold a meeting on Kashmir.

Since August 2019 when India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir and brought it directly under the control of the Government of India by bifurcating it into two Union Territories, the Imran Khan government has been seeking support of the 57-member OIC over the issue in Pakistan’s favour.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Wednesday, had warned the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to stop delaying plans on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Jammu and Kashmir.

According to a report by a Pakistan based news portal, Global Village Space, Qureshi said that if OIC cannot stand by Pakistan on JK, the country will move on without OIC.

Besides this, Qureshi has also demanded the Muslim world to come together and listen to the people of JK reeling under the long-pending dispute.

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

On August 7, Lebanese political and paramilitary party Hezbollah, had extended support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir demanding the right to self-determination and reiterated loyalty to Pakistan for their assistance to the Palestinian cause. Hezbollah is closely associated with Iran.

 

Free Press Kashmir is now on Telegram. Click here to Join

Click to comment
To Top