MASTER of rhetoric and brinkmanship that he is, Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a TV talk show very pointedly asked the Saudi Arabia-led OIC to stop procrastinating in calling a meeting of the foreign ministers of OIC countries on Kashmir.

The foreign minister said: “I am once again respectfully telling [the] OIC that a meeting of the council of ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I will be compelled to ask the Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries which are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.”

The tone and tenor of the statement is quite strident, and seems to be the considerate opinion of the government. It would be interesting to see how the Saudi government reacts to such a hyperbolic demarche from Pakistan, the first of its kind I am sure.

Akbar Jan Marwat
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2020