The Foreign Office said on Friday that Pakistan will not attend the 46th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in protest against inviting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as guest of honour to the forum.
"India is a country with unresolved disputes with Pakistan, a founding member of OIC. India is also responsible for horrendous human rights violations of the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir," Spokesperson Foreign Office Dr Mohammad Faisal said in a statement.
He also announced that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will not participate in the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, taking place in Abu Dhabi on March 1-2, 2019. India has been invited to the inaugural plenary.
"India has consistently rejected the OIC resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, adopted at the OIC Foreign Ministers and Summit levels. Only last year, India rejected the OIC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir by stating that "India dismisses it with the contempt it deserves," he said.
He stated that Pakistan believes that with such a record India has no legal or moral grounds to be present at the meeting. "Pakistan's strong objections in this regard have been clearly communicated," he added.
The decision was taken in the wake of unanimous resolution passed by special session of the two-day joint sitting of the Parliament. The same was also stated by Foreign Minister Qureshi in his address to the joint sitting of the Parliament while taking it into confidence.
"[The joint sitting of the Parliament] notes with deep disapprobation that after India has attacked Pakistan, a founding member of the OIC, India, an egregious aggressor against Pakistan as well as against the Kashmiri people has been invited as a guest of honour at the forthcoming OIC Foreign Ministers' inaugural meeting, and demands that Pakistan abstains completely under protest from the said meeting," the resolution stated.
Foreign Minister Qureshi, through a letter to his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nehyan, has informed the UAE government about Pakistan's concern. "This invitation was extended without consultation with the member states and contrary to the rules of the OIC...our concern is also clearly reflected in the agreements related to observer and member state, as well as its treatment of minorities, especially Muslims, is eminently disqualified from any association with the OIC," Qureshi wrote.
He further wrote that India has recently committed an act of aggression against Pakistan and its treatment of Kashmiris in Indian occupied Kashmir has been despicable. "In this backdrop, the presence of India at the CFM Plenary is all the more unacceptable," he said.
Qureshi also informed his UAE counterpart about the decision of Pakistan's Parliament which has unanimously demanded that after Indian has attacked a founding member of the OIC, Pakistan should abstain completely under protest from the meeting.
"In light of this decision, I reiterate my request to rescind the invitation to India. Should that not happen, I will not be in a position to participate in the conference," he further conveyed to his UAE counterpart.
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