Organisation of Islamic Cooperation refuses to back Pakistan on Kashmir

In a significant development showcasing the deep diplomatic forays of the Narendra Modi government, Saudi Arabia has refused to accept Pakistan’s request for an immediate meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Kashmir, reports Dawn. Senior Officials Meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation starts in Jeddah on Feb 9 to make preparations for the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers. With Saudi Arabia’s refusal to Pakistan’s request, yet another attempt by Pakistan to internationalize Kashmir has failed.

Pakistan has been consistantly trying to use the platform of the OIC which has 57 Muslim countries to politicise the Kashmir at the international level. All its attempts have failed so far including at the United Nations. Pakistan has been trying to showcase Kashmir as a Islamic issue to which all Muslim countries have to respond. Recently, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said that it was needed to ‘send a clear message from Ummah on the Kashmir issue’.

With the denial of Saudi Arabia for a CFM on Kashmir, Pakistan is frustrated as per reports. Dawn reports that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has lambasted the OIC for its ‘silence’ on the issue of Kashmir. He was quoted saying, “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 on Kashmir.”

Pakistan is behaving like a cat on a hot tin roof since the time Article 370 was nullified and Jammu & Kashmir was made a union territory. While most countries across the world including majors powers like USA, Russia, France, Germany, England have termed it as an internal issue, Pakistan has been frustrated as all its attempts to gather support for its illegitimate claim on Kahsmir has failed.