Earlier this month, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made history by becoming the first Indian invitee to an OIC summit.
Imran Khan (Photo: AFP)
Pakistan has clinched the slot of the deputy chairman of the general body of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC), media reported on Tuesday.
According to an official announcement, Pakistan has been elected deputy chairman of the PUIC’s general body on the first day on Monday of its four-day conference being held in Rabat, Morocco, reports Dawn news.
The PUIC is composed of parliaments of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. It was established in Iran on June 17, 1999, with its head office situated in Tehran.
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Earlier this month, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made history by becoming the first Indian invitee to an OIC summit, when she delivered an address at the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Abu Dhabi.
However, Pakistan skipped the meeting citing the Indian minister’s presence.
A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that IAF pilot Abhinandan will be freed as a “gesture of peace”, Islamabad Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that he will not attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Abu Dhabi as India’s External Minister Sushma Swaraj would be present as a guest of honour.
The OIC is a forum that has been invariably misused by Pakistan to slam India on the Jammu and Kashmir issue. India, which is not a member of the body, has always rejected its criticism by the OIC by pointing out that the bloc had no locus standi on its internal matters.
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the UN with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents and a population of more than 1.8 billion.
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