There has been a lot of criticism against Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who in a television interview said that if the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would not play an effective role to project the cause of the Kashmiri people to rid them of Indian atrocities unleashed by its occupation forces, Pakistan would be forced to convene a session of like-minded countries in the region to review the prevailing condition in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Qureshi’s assertion was seen as an indicator that Foreign Ministry may take a policy shift and convene a session of those countries which are outspoken on Kashmir conflict and support Pakistan’s stance on this sensitive human catastrophe whereas men, women and children have been subjected to curfew for the past one year. India is allowed to get scot-free by killing innocent and unarmed Kashmiri people who had launched a struggle to liberate their motherland from the clutches of Indian occupation forces particularly after the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

People’s Republic of China, Islamic Democratic Republic of Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia and several other states had been supporting Pakistan’s position on Kashmir conflict that is also termed as ‘un-finished agenda of Britain’ which deferred the issue for a later date at the time of partition of the Indian Sub-Continent.

The Kuala Lumpur summit 2019 resulted in an exposure that Pakistan’s diplomatic policies were subservient to Saudi Arabia because Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to attend the summit despite having earlier accepted the invitation made by then Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad on the insistence of Saudi Crown Prince who allegedly threatened to withdraw three billion dollars kept in the bank to support Pakistan’s crippling economy beside saying that overseas Pakistanis working in the Kingdom would be deported. Premier Khan announced cancellation of his participation in the Kuala Lumpur Summit following his short visit to Riyadh where he met the Saudi monarch King Suleiman.

On the other hand, United Arab Emirates also took a similar tough stand and its Crown Prince also threatened to expel overseas Pakistanis, several hundred thousand in number and instead decided to stand with Saudi point of view.

At the time when Indian troops were ruthlessly killing the Kashmiri people, both Saudi Arabia and UAE were not only announcing massive investment in India but also awarded Narendra Modi highest civil awards.

In fact the Kuala Lumpur Summit was made controversial because Prime Minister Mahathir refused to extend invitation to Saudi Arabia and those states in the Gulf region who are close allies of Riyadh. The main participants were Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Qatar beside over 400 Islamic scholars drawn from the globe.

Qureshi’s idea to convene a meeting of like-minded countries was initiated mainly because the Saudi-influenced Arab world has found a new friend in South Asia. Their close ties probably have tied their hands and made them tight-lipped to say a word about the crime against humanity being committed by the Indian troops in Kashmir. The entire leadership of All Parties Hurriyat Conference has been sent to jail and media has been deprived to visit the valley by the Indian government. Over 700 Kashmiri men, women and children have been killed in cold blood and tens of thousands have been injured, most of them by pellet guns rendering them blind.

Where is the Muslim Ummah? What it has done for wailing Kashmiri women over dead bodies of their near and dear ones? And what has been done by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is a shameful act that instead of condemning the Indian atrocities, they have garlanded butcher Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with highest civil awards of their respective countries.

Diplomatic circles reveal that at one stage when the Pakistan government was making efforts to convene the emergency session of the OIC, the Crown Prince of friendly country visited Pakistan and asked the Pakistani side not to make the Kashmir tragedy as an international issue since that was making their position awkward. The Crown Prince was of the view that the Kashmir conflict be projected as a regional problem.

Pakistan has, for well over seven decades, projected the cause of the Kashmiri liberation struggle as an international issue in the light of the two United Nations Resolutions that granted the right of self-determination under the world body’s supervision. These resolutions were tabled in the UN by the then Indian Prime Minister Pundit Nehru. India has long been trying to remove these resolutions from the UN agenda and once in 2010 succeeded in doing so but due to hectic Pakistani diplomatic efforts, their previous status was restored and they were.

It may be mentioned here that previously called the Organisation of Islamic Conference, now known as Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was founded in 1969 with an objective to preserve Islamic social and economic values, promote solidarity amongst member states, increase cooperation in social sectors, political areas and uphold peace and security has miserably to achieve any of above mentioned goals. It is no secret that it has failed to take any solid stance on Muslim causes and has always acted to please the anti-Muslim American policy-makers.

Its criminal silence on Kashmir where Indian state terrorism through its occupational military forces have disappointed the people of Kashmir in particular and Muslims across the globe in general. OIC Contact Group on Kashmir could also do nothing in this context except doing lip-service.