BBC News
December 19, 2021
Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi are attending the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Islamabad on Sunday.
The 17th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries, hosted by Pakistan and hosted by Saudi Arabia on the situation in Afghanistan, is taking place in Islamabad on Sunday. Khan Mottaki and OIC Secretary General are attending.
Out of the total 57 OIC member states, 20 Foreign Ministers are attending the meeting in Islamabad while 10 Deputy Ministers or Ministers of State are representing their respective countries.
Representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, international financial institutions, regional and international organizations, Japan, Germany and other non-OIC countries have also been invited to the meeting.
But in India, meanwhile, a dialogue on the crisis in Afghanistan and regional ties is taking place on Sunday, with the foreign ministers of the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan taking part. However, the delegations of these countries are definitely representing their respective countries in the meeting to be held in Pakistan.
The one-day India-Central Asia Dialogue is being chaired by Indian Foreign Minister SJ Shankar and includes the Foreign Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
This is the third conference of its kind to discuss regional ties and trade, in addition to Afghanistan.
According to the Press Trust of India, Tajik Foreign Minister Sarojuddin Mehruddin is visiting India in connection with the aforementioned dialogue as well as a bilateral visit.
On November 10 last month, the national security advisers of all these Central Asian countries participated in another such dialogue in India, the subject of which was Afghanistan.
Russia and Iran's national security advisers were also present at the dialogue.
Hosted the Central Asian Foreign Ministers to a welcome dinner before our Dialogue tomorrow. The cultural show was just one more reminder of our closeness. pic.twitter.com/7MzzI8F2ku
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) December 18, 2021
The countries participating in Sunday's meeting in Delhi are members of the OIC, and three of them (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) share a border with Afghanistan.
But his foreign ministers decided to go to India instead of attending the OIC meeting in Islamabad, which suggests that they also want to maintain cooperation with India on the issue of Afghanistan.
OIC Summit in Pakistan, Dialogue in India
In his inaugural address at the OIC Summit, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan said that hosting the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC was a great pleasure for Pakistan.
"This extraordinary meeting will examine the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, especially the challenges facing humanity,and will propose concrete steps to help the Afghan people who desperately need the support and cooperation of the international community," he said. '
Met with Afghanistan’s acting FM Amir Khan Muttaqi ahead of the 17th @OIC_OCI Extraordinary Session of the CFM and discussed the serious humanitarian crisis in #Afghanistan. We have a collective responsibility to act for the people of Afghanistan. #OIC4Afg #OICInPakistan pic.twitter.com/DpYDZxUI65
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 18, 2021
Pakistan has in the past hosted OIC meetings on the situation in Afghanistan. But Mahmoud Saiqal, a former deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan, said on Twitter that Pakistan had hosted a meeting of OIC foreign ministers on the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1980, but this time with a neutral OIC member. Should have hosted
Is the meeting in New Delhi in response to Pakistan?
Meanwhile, with the participation of the foreign ministers of five Muslim-majority Central Asian countries in the Indian capital, New Delhi, some quarters are getting the impression that the dialogue is being held in a way in response to the OIC summit in Pakistan. Is.
According to local Indian media, the five foreign ministers will also jointly liaise with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the participants on the occasion, Foreign Minister SJ Shankar said, “We all have deep historical and cultural ties with Afghanistan. Our concerns and goals in this country are the same: a comprehensive and representative government, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking,ensuring uninterrupted humanitarian assistance and the protection of the rights of women,children and minorities. "
We must find ways to help the people of Afghanistan," he told visiting ministers.
One-day India-Central Asia Dialogue on Afghanistan to be chaired by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar
India-Pakistan conference cannot be compared
According to former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Azaz Chaudhry, the meeting in Islamabad is very important as Pakistan is Afghanistan's neighbor and the situation in Afghanistan is critical at the moment. There is a need for global aid, not politics.The Muslim world also has a role to play.
He told BBC Urdu that the purpose of the OIC meeting in Islamabad should be how to reach out to the Afghan people.
Talking about the dialogue on Afghanistan in India, he said that everyone knows the role of India there. If they did not keep in touch with the Taliban and keep in touch with the previous government, then we have nothing to do with it."
According to him, apparently everyone wants to bring stability to Afghanistan in some way and if India has the same intention then it is understandable.
According to Chaudhry, Central Asian countries, including Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have good relations with Pakistan, so the India-Pakistan conference is "incomparable".
He said that pressure was being exerted on the world powers to lift the sanctions imposed on Afghanistan after the arrival of Taliban. It's a matter of human sympathy, it's not politics."
He said that we should hope that the OIC meeting would pave the way for the Afghans, regardless of whether any Indian plan could spoil the conference in Pakistan.
Former Pakistani Ambassador to India Abdul Basit also agrees that the third annual conference in Delhi is not taking place for the first time and was scheduled several months ago. His foreign ministers had to go.
He added that on the other hand, the extraordinary OIC meeting on the situation in Afghanistan in Islamabad was scheduled only two weeks ago and many foreign ministers were not attending it but their participation in the meeting in Islamabad was attended by Deputy Ministers and special Available in the form of representatives. So it's not fair to combine the two. "
According to Abdul Basit, stability in Afghanistan should be a top priority for all parties, because if the crisis worsens, the country could return to civil war, which is not in anyone's interest.
One-day India-Central Asia Dialogue on Afghanistan to be chaired by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar
India-Pakistan conference cannot be compared
According to former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Azaz Chaudhry, the meeting in Islamabad is very important as Pakistan is Afghanistan's neighbor and the situation in Afghanistan is critical at the moment. There is a need for global aid, not politics.The Muslim world also has a role to play.
He told BBC Urdu that the purpose of the OIC meeting in Islamabad should be how to reach out to the Afghan people.
Talking about the dialogue on Afghanistan in India, he said that everyone knows the role of India there. If they did not keep in touch with the Taliban and keep in touch with the previous government, then we have nothing to do with it."
According to him, apparently everyone wants to bring stability to Afghanistan in some way and if India has the same intention then it is understandable.
According to Chaudhry, Central Asian countries, including Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have good relations with Pakistan, so the India-Pakistan conference is "incomparable".
He said that pressure was being exerted on the world powers to lift the sanctions imposed on Afghanistan after the arrival of Taliban. It's a matter of human sympathy, it's not politics."
He said that we should hope that the OIC meeting would pave the way for the Afghans, regardless of whether any Indian plan could spoil the conference in Pakistan.
Former Pakistani Ambassador to India Abdul Basit also agrees that the third annual conference in Delhi is not taking place for the first time and was scheduled several months ago. His foreign ministers had to go.
He added that on the other hand, the extraordinary OIC meeting on the situation in Afghanistan in Islamabad was scheduled only two weeks ago and many foreign ministers were not attending it but their participation in the meeting in Islamabad was attended by Deputy Ministers and special Available in the form of representatives. So it's not fair to combine the two. "
According to Abdul Basit, stability in Afghanistan should be a top priority for all parties, because if the crisis worsens, the country could return to civil war, which is not in anyone's interest.
