OIC highlights Muslim world issues
Staff Writer
Islamabad: The Muslim countries’ flags fluttering along avenues, floodlit roads and trees, besides the red carpet rolled out in Parliament House’s foyers featured Islamabad hosting a galaxy of Muslim leaders for OIC CFM who highlighted a variety of issues including Kashmir, Palestine and Islamophobia this week.
The two-day 48th Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM), was the second gathering of the Muslim world leaders hosted by Pakistan at picturesque Islamabad, after an extraordinary session on Afghanistan in December last.
The delegates from across the Muslim world as well as non-member countries including Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the moot with a virtual presence of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Secretary-General OIC Hissein Brahim Taha, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud and President Islamic Development Bank Dr Muhammad Suleiman Al-Jasser were among the prominent guests.
Besides enjoying the serenity of Islamabad, the visiting dignitaries would also witness the thunderous aerobatics maneuvers of the fighter jets of the Pakistan Day parade on Wednesday.
The citizens who have been adoring the rehearsing performances of the fighter jets and paratroopers during last week from different strategic locations, have to experience the pre-announced detours owing to the frequent movement of the guests attending the international event.
Four local holidays were announced in the federal capital to save the residents from facing any inconvenience.
Elaborate security arrangements were made for the high-profile event as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India was poised to fail the event just to avert Pakistan from highlighting the Kashmir issue.
However, contrary to the Indian desire, the Muslim world leaders including Prime Minister Imran Khan, OIC secretary-general, Saudi foreign minister, Chinese foreign minister and others, in their respective addresses, called for resolution of the Kashmir and Palestine issues in accordance with the aspirations of the people as well as the United Nations resolutions.
The meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir, held after the opening session, also thoroughly discussed the Kashmir issue and called for the resolution as guaranteed by the international community.
Prime Minister Imran Khan joined the gathering of the foreign ministers at the session which started with the recitation of Quranic verses and the national anthem.
The summit also coincided with the 75th anniversary celebrations of Pakistan’s independence.
Hassoumi Massoudou, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Niger and also the Chair of the 47th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers handed over the Chair of the 48th session of the OIC-CFM to Pakistan represented by Foreign Minister Qureshi.
Foreign Minister Qureshi as well as other cabinet members received the visiting foreign ministers on their arrival at the Parliament House.
Besides Kashmir and Palestine, the foreign ministers also discussed the developments in Afghanistan and its humanitarian consequences for the Afghan people, Islamophobia, the situation in Mali, the Sahel region, and Lake Chad, and the situation in Central Africa and the Republic of Guinea. They also discussed the developments in Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and other regions.
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Imran Khan said a strong voice of the OIC as the representative body of 1.5 billion population was crucial to address the lingering issues of Kashmir and Palestine.
“We have failed both the Palestinians and Kashmiris. I am sad that we have not been able to make an impact despite being the massive voice of 1.5 billion.”
“I ask OIC that unless we have a united front, we keep having seen these abuses,” he said, adding that altering the demography of a population by turning the majority Kashmiri Muslims into minority was a war crime under Geneva Convention.
On the Ukraine situation, he proposed to consider the ways where the OIC countries along with China could play their role in diffusing the rising conflict.
He especially congratulated the OIC members over the landmark resolution passed in the United Nations for declaring March 15 as the Day to Combat Islamophobia.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it was time for the Muslim Ummah to forge a collective response to the current turmoil inside its borders and the ongoing global transition.
“We must be a reliable partner in forging unity, justice, and development across the globe, but not anyone’s accomplice in aggression or domination.”
Qureshi regretted that even after 50 years of the OIC’s establishment, the organization was far from seeing justice for Muslims in many parts of the world.
“The Muslims of Palestine and the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are still reeling under abominable subjugation,” he said.
