Pakistan Out At OIC : Both Hit Wicket And Caught Behind JeM Terrorists Wickets
Pakistan tried to snub OIC by sending its delegation to the meet, led by its Ambassador to Saudi Arabia instead of the foreign minister.
Earlier it had tried to argue against the invite to India as the guest of honour and later made attempts to defame India during the sessions, during the deliberations. The efforts did not work for Islamabad.
The UAE ensured that India attended the meet despite Islamabad’s objections. The OIC and UAE also did not give in to the demands to include Kashmir in the final draft, despite relentless efforts by Pakistan’s delegation. Islamabad had tried its level best to get the OIC to withdraw the invitation.
That country’s delegation reached out to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and even called for an emergency meeting of the OIC ‘Contact Group on J&K’ in Jeddah on February 27 to get the invitation withdrawn.
Pakistan tried to have contact group meetings which are usually organised on the sidelines of OIC foreign ministers’ meetings.
However this time Pakistan could only manage to convene it in Jeddah and that too at the level of ambassadors. Islamabad tried to make a strong case on why India should not be invited, but the arguments failed to convince either the UAE or Saudi Arabia, whose Crown Prince recently visited Delhi.
Pakistan next tried to use every session on 01 March and 02 March during the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Abu Dhabi to defame India, but failed to get the Kashmir issue mentioned in the final joint declaration of the 57-member group as hosts UAE, besides Saudi Arabia, ensured that the guest (India) wasn’t embarrassed.
While the OIC adopted separate resolutions on the Kashmir issue — terming it as the ‘core’ dispute between India and Pakistan — and the recent airstrikes, the final Abu Dhabi Declaration didn’t even have a passing reference to the matter.
UAE and Saudi Arabia had a very important role to play in ensuring India wasn’t embarrassed at the meeting, even as Pakistan tried to reason also with the foreign ministers of other OIC member states.
Reacting to the OIC resolution on Kashmir, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said “India’s stand on Jammu & Kashmir had always been consistent and well known. We reaffirm that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.”
Pakistan’s delegation, led by Raja Ali Ejaz, its Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had to stage a protest during the second session of the meeting, objecting to the OIC inviting external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj as the guest of honour. This cut no ice with OIC and was like a slap on the face to Pakistan.
