At the 14th OIC Summit in the holy city of Makkah, the 57-member grouping approved Arabia’s Yousef Aldobeay as its special envoy for J&K

The developments came within three months of the OIC foreign ministers’ meet in the UAE where India was the guest of honour for the plenary session.

New Delhi: The complicated political situation in West Asia, particularly tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran coupled with the dependence of some key nations in the region on Pakistan Army against Houthis and Iran, may have prompted the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to appoint a special envoy for Kashmir.

At the 14th OIC Summit in the holy city of Makkah, the 57-member grouping on Saturday approved Saudi Arabia’s Yousef Aldobeay as its special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir. It said it stood “fully in support of the people of Jammu and Kashmir’s achievement of their legitimate rights” and called upon India to hold a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir under the United Nations’ patronage.

The developments came within three months of the OIC foreign ministers’ meet in the UAE where India was the guest of honour for the plenary session. On that occasion, Pakistan had tried to use every session to defame India but had failed to get the Kashmir issue mentioned in the final joint declaration as the hosts and Saudi Arabia ensured that the guest (India) was not embarrassed.


The decision to appoint a special envoy for Kashmir issue was primarily the decision of the OIC contact group on Kashmir, people aware of the matter told ET. They said that a number of OIC members were not party to the decision and maintained a neutral stance on the issue. It may be recalled that some of the key OIC member states across continents have not been in favour of a strong position on Kashmir. 

Sources told ET usually any resolution tabled in such OIC meetings gets adopted without discussions since no country objects to other resolutions but allow them to pass. Pakistan take advantage to pass such resolutions, sources claimed.

However, the role of Pakistan Army in support of Gulf states amid tensions with Iran could have played a role in the decision to appoint a special envoy in response to the Imran Khan government’s request for such a post, said one person.

On Monday, the external affairs ministry’s spokesperson said: “We categorically reject yet another unacceptable reference to matters internal to India in the Final Communiqué adopted at the conclusion of the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia, on 31 May 2019. The OIC has no locus standi in matters relating to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. It is reiterated that OIC should refrain from making such unwarranted references.”

In March, India was invited to the OIC meeting as a guest of honour for the first time. Pakistan, a member of the OIC, tried to get the then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj “disinvited” from the Abu Dhabi meet following India’s air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan. But Pakistan’s request was turned down. The UAE told India that it stood solidly behind the country, dealing a snub to Pakistan in the process.

The Pakistani delegation, led by its officials instead of the foreign minister, tried to argue against the invitation to India as the guest of honour and made attempts to defame India during the sessions.

However, the efforts did not work the way Pakistan wanted. In March, the OIC had adopted separate resolutions on Kashmir — terming it a ‘core’ dispute between India and Pakistan — and the Balakot air strike.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia had played a very important role in ensuring India wasn’t embarrassed at the meeting, even as Pakistan tried to reason with the foreign ministers of other OIC member states, said the person quoted earlier.