The Organization of Islamic Coo-operation (OIC) foreign ministers’ conference is to meet in Islamabad on March 22 and 23, where it will consider a two-point agenda, Islamophobia and Kashmir, both subjects close to the heart of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The most striking feature of this meeting will be the presence of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. As the last regular meeting of the OIC foreign ministers took place in 2019 in Dubai, had the then Indian Foreign Minister, the late Sushma Swaraj, attending, this might appear a sort of riposte now that Pakistan is hosting the conference. At the same time, there seems to be a bit of make-work for Mr Yi. After all, he will be the chief guest at the annual Republic Day parade, and having at the OIC moot probably solves a scheduling problem.
Be that as it may, he may not be comfortable. Certainly, those countries which had facilitated India’s presence in Dubai will not be happy. They will also not be happy that a Kashmir resolution is being mooted. Mr Yi has a peripheral connection to Kashmir, and he is also not likely to be very enthusiastic about the Islamophobia resolution, especially with China coming under fire for its treatment of the Uighurs. True, Mr Khan has publicly absolved China is mistreating its Uighur population, but as the OIC has established a contact group on the Rohingya, as much as it has on Kashmir, there is potential for awkward moments as Myanmar, which China supports, comes in for criticism.
The OIC moot had to be held on schedule, and Pakistan had to host it. It is perhaps unfortunate that it is coinciding with a political crisis, and that the government feels that it can score brownie points with the public by hosting it. However, unless solid steps are taken by the meeting, which go beyond the usual speechifying and posturing, it will not be accounted the success the government is already portraying it as.
