Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj will attend the inaugural plenary session of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as the guest of honour next month. This is the first ever OIC session that India will attend.
India on Saturday accepted the invitation sent by the foreign minister of the UAE, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“We see this invitation as the desire of the enlightened leadership of the UAE to go beyond our rapidly growing close bilateral ties and forge a true multifaceted partnership at the multilateral and international level” A statement issued by MEA said. It also added that invitation sent to India acknowledges the presence of 185 million Muslims and their “contribution to its pluralistic ethos“.
The OIC sessions agenda this year is ’50 years of Islamic cooperation: Road map for prosperity and development’ It will be held between March 1-2, in Abu Dhabi. It will be attended by delegates of 56 member states, 5 observer states and India as ‘Guest of Honour’.
The move has been hailed as significant, as currently India is trying to corner Pakistan, after the Pulwama attack that claimed lives of more than 40 CRPF jawans.
EAM @SushmaSwaraj to attend the OIC Plenary as Guest of Honour is a rare and significant gesture in the backdrop of the current India-Pakistan tension. Another opportunity for India to make some of the points against Pakistan in strongest terms possible.
— Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) February 23, 2019
Invitation to India to speak in the congregation of Islamic countries, cannot have come at a better time when it is launching several diplomatic offensives against the state of Pakistan for its continued backing to Islamic terrorist who perpetrates terror attacks like Pulwama attack in India.
India’s first International win against Islamic terrorism has already come in the form of condemnation by UN Security Council. The UNSC in its statement condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir while naming Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan based terror group. It also urged other countries to comply with India and other relevant authorities in the investigation into the dastardly terror attack.
