India has rejected the proposal passed in the meeting of foreign ministers of member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an organization of Islamic countries. Kashmir has also been mentioned in this proposal.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that India's reference in the resolution passed in the OIC is factually incorrect, unreasonable and inappropriate.

There was a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the OIC on 27 and 28 November 2020 in Niamey, the capital of Niger, and Kashmir is also mentioned in the resolution passed in this meeting.

Pakistan is also a member of the OIC. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi attended the meeting and raised the issue of Kashmir loudly.

Pakistan is happy with the mention of Kashmir in the resolution passed in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC. This proposal is being called Niamey Declaration and Pakistan has welcomed it.

India ended Kashmir's special status on August 5, 2019. Since then Pakistan has been raising this issue on the international stage but so far there has been no concrete success. OIC has also not been very active about this till now.

Regarding the proposal passed in the CFM of OIC, India's Foreign Ministry has said in its statement, "We are factually incorrect, inappropriate and unreasonably passed in the OIC's 47th CFM in Niger's capital Niamey, India. Let's dismiss the mention of We have always said that the OIC has no right to speak on India's internal affairs. Jammu and Kashmir is also an integral part of India and the OIC has no right to speak on it.''

India has said in its statement, "It is regrettable that the OIC is allowing any one country to misuse its platform." The country that the OIC is allowing to do so has a disgusting record of religious tolerance, extremism and injustice with minorities. That country is always engaged in anti-India propaganda. We are seriously advising the OIC to refrain from saying such a thing about India in future.''

Kashmir has also been included in the resolution passed at the meeting of foreign ministers of the OIC member countries in Niamey.

However, Kashmir was not included in the OIC's CFM agenda. It is being said that due to the stubbornness of Pakistan, it has been included only. The resolution said that the OIC's stand on the Kashmir dispute has always been that it should be resolved peacefully as per the UN Security Council resolution.

However, it is also being said that the mention of Kashmir in the proposal of OIC is a ritual and it is not surprising for India. Despite the pressure from Pakistan, Kashmir was not included as a separate agenda in this meeting.

The OIC is dominated by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Pakistan's relations with these two countries are deteriorating. Saudi Arabia wants Pakistan to pay its debts quickly. Especially since when Pakistani PM Imran Khan tried to create an organization with Turkey, Iran and Malaysia parallel to the OIC. Last week, the UAE temporarily banned the issuance of new visas for Pakistani nationals.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also raised the issue separately in the OIC meeting with the UAE Foreign Minister but no concrete assurance has been received so far.

Is Kashmir a victory in the Niamey Declaration?

This meeting was held in Abu Dhabi in March 2019. In this meeting, the then Foreign Minister of India Sushma Swaraj was also called by the UAE.

Pakistan had opposed the calling of Sushma Swaraj and boycotted the inauguration ceremony. Sushma Swaraj then addressed the CFM meeting of the OIC.

There was no mention of Kashmir in the resolution passed in this meeting. It welcomed the decision of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in which he sent back Wing Commander Abhinandan of India.

Kashmir is nothing new in the proposal that comes after the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of OIC. It has been mentioned before also. This time the proposal is being called Niame Declaration. Its operative paragraph eight states that the OIC wants the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to be peaceful as per the UN Security Council resolution and it has always been the same.

This was the first meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC after the end of special status of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019. Pakistan hoped that this time a strong statement would be issued against India, but this did not happen.

Pakistan's Ambassador to India Abdul Basit has posted a video on Twitter and he has said many things about Niamey Declaration.

Basit has said, "This was the first meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC after August 5 and we were hopeful that some strong statement about India would be issued." We felt that India's decision would be condemned but it did not happen. There is nothing very happy for Pakistan in the Declaration.

He said, "The way Kashmir is concerned about Palestine, Azerbaijan and terrorism in this Declaration does not belong to Kashmir. Compared to last year, we can be happy that this time, at least it has been mentioned. India should have condemned what it did on August 5, but it did not happen. Niger has good relations with India and the convention center in which this conference took place is made with the help of India only.

The Maldives is also a member of the OIC. Maldives Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid attended the meeting. Abdullah posted a tweet on November 27, 2020 in which pictures of that conference center in Niamey were posted. With these pictures, Abdullah wrote in his tweet, "OIC's 47th CFM meeting is being held at the beautiful Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Center in Niamey. When the world is facing many challenges and crises, these can be faced together. ''

However, Pakistan is considering its victory with the mention of Kashmir. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has tweeted, "The inclusion of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in the Niamey Declaration suggests that the OIC has always stood by the Kashmir issue."

Ever since India abolished the special status of Kashmir, Pakistan has been calling for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the OIC member countries but to no avail.

In August 2020, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had threatened to withdraw from the OIC and raise the Kashmir issue. This angered Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had to issue an explanation. But by then the situation had deteriorated and Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had to visit Saudi to handle it.

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