Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Wednesdaythreatened to boycott a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) scheduled for next month in the UAE if India’s External Affairs MinisterSushmaSwaraj participates in it.
Swaraj has been invited as a “guest of honour” at theinaugural session of the foreign ministers’ conclave in Abu Dhabi on March 1-2.
“I have no reservations with the OIC or any other Islamiccountry. My reservations are with Indian Foreign Minister SushmaSwaraj’s attendanceat the OIC meeting,” Qureshi told Geo News.
“If Swaraj attends the meeting then I will not participatein it,” Qureshi said.
He shared that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres andTurkish Foreign Minister MevlutCavusoglu telephoned him.
“We believe India has committed aggression against a brotherIslamic country and attacked a founding member of the OIC,” Qureshi quotedCavusoglu as saying.
“The Turkish foreign minister said there is no reason forIndian Foreign Minister SushmaSwaraj to attend the meeting of the Organizationof Islamic Countries (OIC) and Turkey will fully oppose her invitation andopportunity to address,” he added.
Last night, Qureshi said he spoke to his UAE counterpartSheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan expressed his reservations over invitationto Swaraj.
Meanwhile, the OIC on Tuesday “condemned” India’s “incursionand aerial violation” in Pakistan.
It urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and avoidany steps that would endanger peace and security in the region. It called uponboth parties to act responsibly and encouraged them to seek peaceful solutionto current crisis without resort to use of force.
It also called on them to embrace dialogue and work towardsde-escalation of current situation as a matter of priority.
The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir held an emergencymeeting at the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah and expressed deep concernover the heightened tension in the region and called for immediatede-escalation.