In a major development that could irk India, Saudi Arabia has agreed to schedule a special foreign ministers' meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the Kashmir issue.
The move is being seen as a concession by Saudi to Pakistan after the former persuaded Islamabad to back out of an Islamic summit hosted by Malaysia last week. The decision was taken after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Foreign office in Islamabad.
Prince Faisal was on a one-day official trip to Pakistan to thank the country for not participating in the meeting of Muslim countries held in Malaysia.
Notably, Pakistan played a significant role in convening the KL summit along with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian PM Mahathir. But just before the meeting, the country pulled out of the conclave on the directions from Saudi Arabia. On the flipside, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also attended the conclave that may also have irritated Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Pakistani foreign office said, "The two Foreign Ministers discussed OIC's role in the advancement of the cause of Kashmir."
The Pakistan foreign minister Qureshi also briefed Prince Faisal on the situation in Kashmir after India abrogated the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370. The Foreign Office said, "Mr. Qureshi also highlighted the Indian Government's actions with regard to CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act 2019) and NRC (National Register of Citizens) and the systematic targeting of minorities in India, particularly Muslims."
According to the Times of Indian, although the dates of the foreign ministers' meet are yet to be announced, the development is likely to irk New Delhi. In recent times, India has put in extra efforts to build a strategic partnership with Saudi. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are at the core of the Indian foreign policy and have in fact helped the country to contain the diplomatic fallout of decisions, including revocation of Article 370.
After India's decision to scrap Article 370, Pakistan felt that the Islamic countries, OIC in particular, did not support them. In turn, India has already started diplomatic pushback to pacify the Islamic countries.
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