Why are Muslim countries not supporting Pakistan on Kashmir?
Imran Khan is continuously mourning that ‘Organization of Islamic Cooperation of Muslim countries did not support him on Kashmir issue’.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said this in Malaysia on Tuesday this week. Imran was speaking in a Malaysian think-tank program.
In one session of this program, he said, “I do not want Muslims to fight among themselves.” I want the Muslims to unite to protect their interests like the rest of the communities. The population of Muslims around the world is 1.3 billion, but to date the most afflicted are Muslims. In Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Muslims are fighting among themselves. We could not show solidarity on Kashmir even in OIC meeting. ‘’
Imran Khan said that ‘Muslims should come together on Kashmir and Myanmar’. The Pakistani Prime Minister said that ‘Muslims are being persecuted in Kashmir and Myanmar due to religion’.
Emraan Khan, who visited Malaysia on a two-day visit on February 3, was addressing a session of the Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies in Kuala Lumpur.
In this address, he said, “The West countries do not utter a single word against 1.2 crore Jews.” This is because the Jews are united, strong and effective. Saudi and Iran are both Islamic countries but tensions between the two remain at their peak. Pakistan has played a positive role in reducing this tension.
Imran Khan praised Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and said that he spoke openly against India on Kashmir. Imran said that ‘India threatened to stop importing palm oil, yet Mahathir Mohammad did not bow down’.
He said, “There is a leader who believes in the system and ideology and such a leader is Mahathir Mohammed.” However, despite Imran Khan saying so much, it does not seem to have any effect.
According to a Pakistani newspaper, ‘Saudi Arabia has expressed reluctance to meet OIC foreign ministers on Kashmir. Pakistan demanded an immediate meeting on this.
The newspaper wrote that ‘Pakistan is now finding itself uneasy about OIC’. There are 57 Islamic countries on the platform of the OIC. It is called the largest international forum after the United Nations.
Pakistan is demanding that OIC should be openly exposed against India on Kashmir. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is constantly demanding that the OIC should call a meeting of foreign ministers of member countries and pass a resolution against India.
That newspaper says that until Saudi Arabia is ready, no meeting on Kashmir is possible. Only three important countries of this organization of 57 countries have come out openly against Kashmir on India. These are Malaysia, Iran and Turkey.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was barred by Saudi Arabia from going to the Islamic Summit held in Malaysia on 19 December. Imran Khan had agreed to go to this summit, yet he had accepted Saudi’s point.
Pakistan said that ‘Saudi Arabia feels that the Islamic Summit in Kuala Lumpur will further divide the Muslim world’. Saudi also felt that this summit would weaken his dominant OIC.
In Pakistan, Imran Khan was criticized for bowing to Saudi pressure. Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan came to Islamabad and he also assured Pakistan on Kashmir.
According to the Pakistani newspaper Express Tribune, “The Saudi Foreign Minister spoke of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC on Kashmir in lieu of not going to Malaysia during this visit.”
The Saudi Foreign Minister met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during this visit. Tensions in Saudi and Iran increased when the US killed Iranian military commander General Qasim Suleimani in Iraq.
In view of this tension, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited Saudi and Iran.
During this visit also, Qureshi had demanded a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of OIC member countries on Kashmir in Saudi Arabia but did not show any positive attitude. After returning from Saudi, Qureshi said that “Pakistan hopes that Saudi will not disappoint”.
The 47th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC is going to be held on Sunday, February 9 in Jeddah. It is expected that Kashmir can be included in the proposal of this meeting as the next agenda, but in particular, no meeting has yet been reached on Kashmir.
The newspaper has written an editorial on the repeated talk of Imran Khan being one of the Muslim countries. Don wrote that ‘When Imran Khan repeatedly sings the lament of not having a Muslim voice, it seems that there should be a serious analysis on it.’
He has written in his editorial, “We are talking about unity in the Muslim world when the Islamic countries are fighting among themselves. Muslims in Syria, Yemen and Libya are thirsty for each other’s blood. Thousands of people have died in these countries. There is no count of the injured and the homeless. There are some non-Muslim countries in this tragedy but their role is limited. It is the Muslims who fight in these three countries. In Yemen, two big Muslim countries Saudi Arabia and Iran have been fighting for the last four years.
The newspaper wrote, “Recently, the OIC meeting in Jeddah on the Middle East peace plan of US President Donald Trump, the Iranian delegation was stopped from attending it. If India ended the special status of Kashmir on August 5 last year, no Muslim country other than Malaysia and Turkey came out openly. One Gulf country said that this is India’s internal matter. Even the Foreign Minister of India was invited as a guest at the OIC meeting held in UAE last year. Today, a large population of Muslims is living in the pre-industrialization period. On the other hand, most third world countries are using their resources in space and digital development.
The newspaper has written that ‘Muslim countries have immense money but they are not investing in science and education’.
It is written in this editorial, “There are a small number of Muslims who have received Nobel honours.” On the other hand, Jews with a modest population have received close to 200 Nobel honours. Jews are the least in the total population of the world, but in the total Nobel honours so far, the Jews have got 20% Nobel. In this, Israel has got 12 Nobel honours. If we want a voice to come from the Muslim world, then we have to fix our houses first.
Imran Khan was asked by journalists in Malaysia if he would come to the Islamic Summit of Kuala Lumpur next year? So he said yes in response.
Perhaps Imran Khan has tried to give a message to Saudi that now he will not trust Sauki’s saying about Kashmir.
Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.