A two-day meeting of the Council of the Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) began in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss challenges faced by the Muslim world. The theme of the 48th session of the council is ‘Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice, and Development’. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is going to give the keynote address at the meeting.
The meeting comes at a time when Imran Khan is facing the biggest challenge yet of his Prime Ministerial term. The issues of rising inflation and growing national debt have hardly been a cause of concern for the Pakistan PM, but the no confidence motion brought by the opposition over these issues is harder to ignore.
Earlier this month, opposition leaders had brought the motion of no confidence against Imran Khan and his government, and Imran Khan is likely to face this no confidence motion in the assembly on the 28th of March. Biggest headache for Imran Khan is not just the unity of the opposition at this moment, but also the rebellion of several members of his own coalition. Over 2 dozen Members of National Assembly (MNAs) are likely to vote against the Imran Khan government.
With a collapsing economy, an open rebellion, no support from Pakistan Army, and bomb blasts, Imran is likely to turn to his last refuge, Islam. This OIC meeting gives him the perfect platform to do so. If he convinces the masses that he is the leader of the global Muslim Ummah, his opponents will find it tough to remove him.
Imran has tried several times in the past to portray himself as the leader of the Muslim Ummah. He even planned a TV channel with Turkey and Malaysia to promote Islam and dispel ‘Islamophobia’. Though he has always steadfastly refused to comment on the Muslim Uyghur genocide in China, because without Chinese support, Pakistan’s broken economy will absolutely collapse.
However, this time he has one reason to portray himself as the leader of Muslim Ummah, the fact that United Nations adopted a resolution proposed by Pakistan to mark 15th March as the day to combat Islamophobia. With the resolution being proposed by Pakistan, one can be sure that Imran Khan will repeatedly mention it during his keynote address at the OIC meeting, reminding all the attendees, but more to Pakistan public that he is responsible for creating this day against Islamophobia.
Imran Khan even wrote an Op-Ed in Arab News where like any Pakistani politician worth his salt, he raised the issue of Kashmir, another highly popular political issue in Pakistan. OIC meet will seek to get approval on 100 declarations during the meeting, including aid for Afghanistan and support for Kashmiris, though none of the declarations are likely to have any meaningful impact.
In a religion mad country like Pakistan, once Imran Khan convinces the people that he is fighting for Islam globally, it will be interesting to see the reactions of the rebels from his coalition. Pakistan’s politicians are anyway infamous for selling out and changing allegiances so public mood combined with a bit of money may save Imran’s chair after all.
