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Musharraf scuttled India`s admission into OIC: Official
Islamabad, May 26: The Organisation of Islamic Conference, an exclusive club of Islamic countries was all set to shun its antagonism towards India and admit it as a full-fledged member last year but backtracked at the last moment after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf threatened to withdraw from the grouping.
Islamabad, May 26: The Organisation of Islamic Conference, an exclusive club of Islamic countries was all set to shun its antagonism towards India and admit it as a full-fledged member last year but backtracked at the last moment after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf threatened to withdraw from the grouping.
Musharraf averted an "unprecedented disaster" for foreign policy by threatening to pull out from the OIC after the Islamic group geared up to move a resolution to admit India in its ranks at foreign ministers meeting in Khartoum in Sudan last year, a Pak daily reported today.
"The OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Khartoum in June 2002 in a closed door meeting began discussing the possibility of admitting India as a member of the OIC considering its massive population of Muslims," it quoted an unnamed official of Pakistan foreign ministry as saying.
India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The OIC was move was backed by several Arab countries he said but declined to reveal their names.
Watching the situation going out of hand, the then Information Minister, Nisar Memon, who represented Pakistan in the absence of a full-fledged foreign minister, called Musharraf and sought his guidance.
"Musharraf immediately asked Memon to contact the OIC secretary-general as well as the key Arab states in favour of the move to admit India and convey to them that if a resolution is passed, Pakistan will immediately withdraw from OIC," said the official. "President Musharraf authorised Memon to give a matching response to the concerned quarters if its warning against admitting India went unheeded and to announce Pakistan's withdrawal from OIC," the official said.
The OIC however dropped the resolution after Memon conveyed Musharraf s threat.
The disclosure followed recent remarks by Musharraf that Pakistan has to wage its battle on the crucial issues like India and Kashmir alone and cannot count on others.
His remarks were interpreted in the media here as how even the Islamic bloc of countries kept silent and often paid only lip service to issues relating to Pakistan strategic interests. The revelation that OIC was ready to admit India was also seen as a major setback for Islamabad as it reflected the deep forays made by India in winning influential friends in the Islamic world.
On its part India declined to extend diplomatic recognition to OIC for its reluctance to admit it.
Bureau Report
"The OIC Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Khartoum in June 2002 in a closed door meeting began discussing the possibility of admitting India as a member of the OIC considering its massive population of Muslims," it quoted an unnamed official of Pakistan foreign ministry as saying.
India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The OIC was move was backed by several Arab countries he said but declined to reveal their names.
Watching the situation going out of hand, the then Information Minister, Nisar Memon, who represented Pakistan in the absence of a full-fledged foreign minister, called Musharraf and sought his guidance.
"Musharraf immediately asked Memon to contact the OIC secretary-general as well as the key Arab states in favour of the move to admit India and convey to them that if a resolution is passed, Pakistan will immediately withdraw from OIC," said the official. "President Musharraf authorised Memon to give a matching response to the concerned quarters if its warning against admitting India went unheeded and to announce Pakistan's withdrawal from OIC," the official said.
The OIC however dropped the resolution after Memon conveyed Musharraf s threat.
The disclosure followed recent remarks by Musharraf that Pakistan has to wage its battle on the crucial issues like India and Kashmir alone and cannot count on others.
His remarks were interpreted in the media here as how even the Islamic bloc of countries kept silent and often paid only lip service to issues relating to Pakistan strategic interests. The revelation that OIC was ready to admit India was also seen as a major setback for Islamabad as it reflected the deep forays made by India in winning influential friends in the Islamic world.
On its part India declined to extend diplomatic recognition to OIC for its reluctance to admit it.
Bureau Report