Influenced by Pakistan, OIC — a prominent organisation of Islamic countries — has consistently commented on the situation in Kashmir much to India’s dismay.
As India’s decision to revoke the special status accorded to its volatile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is being debated extensively, one of the sharpest reaction to New Delhi’s move has engendered from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — a group of 57 member states formed in 1969 to collectively protect the interests of the Muslim world. This episode has brought forward the tumultuous history of India’s relations with the OIC — an organisation where Pakistan has aggressively pursued the Kashmir issue to isolate India in the Islamic world. Other Islamic states have also been critical of India’s Kashmir policy in the OIC. Such developments demand a review of India’s relationship with the organisation.
Since its inception, OIC has flagged issues, although with a varying degree of success, which it conceives threaten the wellbeing of Ummah or the brotherhood among Muslims. Several OIC member states, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, have a strong Islamic identity; hence, issues that invoke Muslim solidarity have become part of OIC’s Islamic Summits and its Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM). Although, OIC has shown greater interest in issues affecting the Muslim sentiments in the Arab world, in South Asia, owing to Kashmir’s strong linkages with Islam and the region’s proximity to Pakistan — that contests India’s authority over the Muslim majority region, the Kashmir dispute has invariably drawn interest in the OIC.
While there remains a view that the crisis in Kashmir is rooted in the colonial insensitivity and mismanagement to render an amicable arrangement between India and Pakistan, the Kashmir issue captures the popular imagination of Muslim leaders globally — a dynamic that Pakistan has sought to exploit at the OIC. Considering Pakistan’s Islamic credentials that give it a prominent status in the OIC, Islamabad has sought to establish consensus among OIC member states in condemning New Delhi’s Kashmir policy that it argues seeks to undermine the rights of the Muslim population in the state.
Pakistan’s apprehension regarding India’s entry in the Islamic grouping is evident since OIC’s foundational years, a prospect that it fears could influence the opinion of other Muslim states. Despite having the third-largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan, India’s membership in the OIC is contested by Islamabad that launched a scathing attack on New Delhi when Gurbachen Singh, then Indian Ambassador to Morocco, was sent as the representative to the First Islamic Summit in Rabat in 1969. Pakistan further insisted that India send a Muslim delegation that apprises the OIC of issues concerning the community there. To date, India remains only a ‘prospective’ member of the OIC, much due to Pakistan’s opposition.
Interestingly, Pakistan eschewed from raising the Kashmir issue at the Second Islamic Summit in 1974. During this period, as Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) was emerging as the second OIC member state in South Asia, Pakistan faced condemnation for committing atrocities against the Bengali speaking population in East Pakistan. Consequently, Pakistan’s credibility and its effort to internationalise the Kashmir issue suffered.
India was first criticised for using force against civilians Kashmir at the ICFM in 1990. An OIC Contact Group on Kashmir was subsequently formed in 1994 that includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Niger apart from Pakistan. The Contact Group focusses on increasing cooperation between OIC member Cooperation regarding the situation in Kashmir and promoting the cause of the ‘self-determination’ of the Kashmiri people. It has moreover been critical of Indian laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that give security forces greater authority in Kashmir compared to other states.
OIC fact-finding mission on Kashmir, established in conducted interviews in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) after Indis refused to give the mission access to Kashmir. The fact-finding mission recommended the Gulf States to sever trade ties with India and restrict the Indian workforce in the region. Such recommendations intend to disrupt India’s energy and diasporic ties with key Gulf States such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia that hold increasing significance for India. These OIC recommendations are hopeful that Gulf member states by sanctioning trade and diasporic ties with India would, in turn, pressure India to review its Kashmir policy. During the Sixth Islamic summit(1991) in Dakar, Senegal, OIC alleged human rights violations in Kashmir by India, and in 1994 at the Seventh Islamic Summit in Casablanca, OIC hosted Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a controversial figure in India alongside representatives from the (PoK).
Subsequent ICFMs’ and Islamic Summits have remained critical of India that views have equated the secessionist movement with an ongoing struggle for independence. More visible OIC action that is problematic from New Delhi’s viewpoint is the appointment of a Special Representative for Kashmir and its offer to mediate differences between India and Pakistan. At the Eleventh Islamic Summit in Dakar in 2008, a resolution on Kashmir was adopted by OIC member states that states India to resolve the issue with Pakistan as per the UN resolutions taking into account the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. At the Fourteenth Islamic Summit(2019) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, OIC reiterated its position on Kashmir, emphasising the role of UN resolutions in settling the dispute.
Within the OIC, Turkey, alongside Pakistan, has periodically raised concerns regarding the situation in Kashmir. Pakistan’s continued support to Ankara in its dispute with Cyprus, it seems has shaped Turkish opinion on the Kashmir dispute. During the Twentieth ICFM(1991), Ankara condemned India’s use of force in Kashmir. Ankara was also part of the meeting of the OIC bureau in 1993, where the issue of the Babri mosque demolition was raised on Pakistan’s request,. This cooperation between Turkey and Pakistan has gained salience under Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has incentivised closer ties with Islamabad despite recognising the potential of Turkey’s relations with India.
On several occasions, Erdogan has offered to mediate differences between India and Pakistan towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute raising concerns in New Delhi. Apart from Turkey, Azerbaijan offers unqualified support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, Pakistan has reciprocated this by supporting the Azeri position against Armenia. Voices from Iran have also expressed resentment against India’s Kashmir’s policy asking New Delhi to respect the rights of Kashmiri people.
Facing a diplomatic offensive from the OIC, India has questioned the organisation’s locus standi to intervene in the Kashmir affairs. Moreover, India has asserted that the organisation has been misguided by Pakistan that has sought to leverage its status in the OIC to serve its interests.
New Delhi has also intended to benefit from the faultlines within the Islamic world in defending its position. While Turkey continues to support Pakistan’s viewpoint on the Kashmir dispute, India’s multifaceted engagement with the UAE in recent years helped it to counter Pakistan’s influence in the OIC. For instance, India’s then external affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, was the guest of honor for the 46th ICFM meeting in Abu Dhabi. UAE has signaled support for India’s decision to revoke Article 370, claiming that the legislative move could improve the prevailing social and security situation in J&K. Outside of the OIC, New Delhi has shown interest in engaging Cyprus and Armenia that share volatile relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan respectively. Moreover, Bangladesh, in 2018 proposed for the reform of OIC that would allow states like India that host a significant Muslim population to become a member of the organisation.
In the Arab world, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq were more unequivocal in their support to India’s position on Kashmir, often treating Kashmir as India’s ‘internal matter.’ Since the days of Hafez-Al-Assad regime in Syria, Damascus has also ascribed to India’s position on the Kashmir issue. Other important Arab member states such as Egypt have held a more balanced view while commenting on the Kashmir dispute.
Within India, critics have pointed out that while OIC has periodically taken up the Kashmir issue in its summits and conferences, the organisation has only superficially addressed issues faced by the Muslim population in China’s restive Xinjiang province.
The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has attracted attention at various multilateral forums, including the OIC, and has become an intrinsic feature in Pakistan’s diplomacy to muster support against India in the Islamic world. Influenced by Pakistan, OIC — a prominent organisation of Islamic countries — has consistently commented on the situation in Kashmir much to India’s dismay.
Despite Kashmir’s proximity to a region that hosts several OIC member states, there is little understanding of the issue’s attractiveness in the Muslim world. While some members such as Turkey and Pakistan, driven by ideological and ideational commitments, have developed a closer understanding of the issue, other member states such as UAE and Egypt owing to strategic, economic imperatives demonstrate restraint while engaging the issue. However, despite these varying views existing within the OIC, given the dynamics of the issue where interests of the Muslim world are involved and its prominence in Pakistan’s foreign policy, Kashmir is likely to remain part of the OIC discourse requiring a more informed approach led by Indian diplomacy.
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