What Pakistan actually wants from the OIC conference

Why Pakistan is hosting this particular OIC conference now

The episode opens with Muzamil framing the stakes: a major OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting is days away, held in Islamabad at a moment of significant global turbulence, and Pakistan is the host. He asks his two guests — Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the Foreign Office Spokesperson, and Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC — to explain why this conference matters and what is on the agenda.

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad sets the institutional context immediately. The OIC is the second largest international organization in the world after the United Nations, with 57 member states. Pakistan is a founding member and has played, in his words, “a really influential and leading role” throughout the organization’s history. But the timing of this particular session carries additional weight: the dates coincide with March 23, Pakistan Day, and the country is marking 75 years of independence. The visiting foreign ministers and heads of delegation will be guests of honor at the Pakistan Day Parade. “This is a great show of support and solidarity from the Islamic world towards Pakistan,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmad says.

The agenda, he explains, covers Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan, Islamophobia, post-COVID economic recovery, and the broader regional situation. More than 45 delegations are attending at ministerial level, alongside observer states, special envoys from major powers including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and representatives from the UN, the Arab League, and the African Union.

Kashmir: why OIC’s political weight is irreplaceable

Muzamil asks about the invitation extended to APHC leadership — the true representatives of the Kashmiri people, as both guests describe them — and India’s predictably hostile reaction. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh explains that this is not a new practice; APHC representatives have participated in OIC sessions before, including a summit in Dakar in 2008. The two leaders invited this time, Mirwais Umer Faruk and Musarat Alam Bhatt, are both currently in detention in India on what Rizwan Saeed Sheikh calls “false and fake charges.”

The significance of their absence, he argues, is itself a message to the international community. “It is a clear demonstration for the world to see that not only is the leadership, the true representatives of the Kashmiri people, not being allowed the full scope of their basic human rights — but the international community, international organizations, are not being allowed to talk to them directly.”

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad adds the political logic plainly: “The reason they cannot come anywhere is because they are in detention. And the other thing is that the way they object to the participation of the Kashmiri leadership, the reason that they come up with is totally baseless and flimsy.” India’s claim that Kashmir is an internal matter, he notes, is not accepted by any serious actor in the international community. Kashmir is on the agenda of the UN Security Council. It is a recognized dispute that must be resolved through a plebiscite.

Muzamil then asks Rizwan Saeed Sheikh to address the criticism that the OIC has been silent on Kashmir. The answer is careful and structural. OIC is a political organization, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh says, and only political outcomes should be expected from it. What it provides is the weight of 57 member states consistently reiterating the relevance of UN Security Council resolutions — year after year, session after session, at every tier of the organization. “If Pakistan raises the voice about the rights of the Kashmiri people, it would be construed by international public opinion that it’s natural — we are a party to the dispute. But OIC, being the second largest international organization, puts its entire weight of 57 member states on Pakistan’s political and legal case consistently.” That consistency, he argues, is not symbolic. It is “indispensable.”

Islamophobia: from India’s Hindutva policies to a UN resolution

Later in the discussion, Muzamil raises the rise of Islamophobia within India — the Muskan video, the lynchings, the pattern of state-inspired discrimination — and asks whether the OIC conference is an opportunity to internationalize it. He also notes that Pakistan has been unusually vocal on this issue, including securing the unanimous adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

Rizwan Saeed Sheikh confirms that India will be a focus. “India clearly is a red blinking light when it comes to Islamophobia on the world map today.” The actions of the Indian government, he says, are “certainly inspired by the Hindutva ideology” and will be flagged and condemned. OIC, as the natural institutional leader on Islamophobia with most of its members being Muslim-majority states, has both a charter-based and a moral duty to protect Muslim minorities in non-member states.

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad traces the diplomatic arc. The turning point was Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the UN General Assembly in 2019, where he focused heavily on Islamophobia alongside Kashmir. That speech reflected, in Asim Iftikhar Ahmad’s words, “the sentiments of not only the Muslims in Pakistan but all over the world.” Pakistan then built on that momentum within the OIC and eventually at the UN, where the resolution passed by consensus. He is careful to frame the resolution not as confrontational but as constructive: “We are not carrying any confrontationist approach. What we are trying to promote and advocate is greater harmony and understanding and interreligious harmony. This is the crux of the resolution.”

Afghanistan: from the December emergency session to a trust fund

Muzamil asks about the extraordinary OIC session on Afghanistan held in December 2021 — also convened in Islamabad, also a Pakistani initiative — and what has happened since. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad describes it as a joint initiative with Saudi Arabia, bringing together not just the Islamic world but the P5, the UN, and international financial institutions. Three main outcomes emerged: the establishment of an OIC Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan, the appointment of a special envoy on Afghanistan, and a strengthening of OIC’s presence and office in Kabul. The charter signing ceremony for the trust fund, he notes, is scheduled for the following day.

Rizwan Saeed Sheikh adds the institutional reasoning behind a key decision: the trust fund will be run by the Islamic Development Bank, not a political body. The reason is credibility. The Islamic Development Bank carries a AAA rating from all major rating agencies. That credibility matters not just for operationalizing the fund but for attracting other international organizations to use the same platform. “You cannot expect Afghanistan to be restricted to dole-outs from the international community,” he says, echoing the prime minister’s framing from the December session. “You need to revive the economy there.” The effort is designed to be sequenced — humanitarian relief first, then medium-term and long-term development.

The OIC’s special envoy on Afghanistan had arrived in Islamabad the day before the interview, having visited Kabul approximately ten days earlier. His report to member states will inform what mandates are renewed or expanded at the upcoming CFM.

Russia-Ukraine: Pakistan’s principled non-alignment

Muzamil raises the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the pressure Pakistan faced to take sides. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad is measured but clear. Pakistan has excellent relations with both Russia and Ukraine. The prime minister had recently visited Moscow; Ukraine is described as a close partner. Pakistan’s position rests on three pillars: commitment to UN Charter principles — sovereignty, territorial integrity, self-determination, pacific settlement of disputes — applied universally and without double standards; a call for immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to diplomacy; and active outreach to both sides, including the foreign minister speaking to neighboring countries, the European Union, and China.

“We do not want to be part of any bloc politics, and we want to be a partner in peace and not in conflict,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmad says. He also notes that the conflict’s impact on developing countries — through oil prices and food supply chains — is already being felt in Pakistan, and that this was something the prime minister predicted early.

On the OIC dimension, he notes that the Ukraine-Russia conflict is not formally on the OIC agenda, but that individual member states may raise it. Pakistan’s position will be consistent with what it has stated publicly.

The economic gap: 25% of the world’s population, 7-8% of global GDP

One of the sharpest exchanges in the conversation comes when Muzamil asks why the OIC — the second largest international organization in the world, representing roughly a quarter of global population — never seems to talk seriously about economics. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad acknowledges the gap directly: the Islamic world accounts for only about seven to eight percent of global GDP. “We are lagging far behind. The true economic potential of the Islamic world has not been exploited.”

Pakistan intends to use its chairmanship of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers to push economic cooperation — trade, investment, connectivity — as a priority. The argument is that economic integration will reinforce political unity, not the other way around. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad connects this to Pakistan’s own foreign policy reset: “There is a refocusing from geopolitics to geoeconomics,” with three pillars — regional peace and stability, a friendly neighborhood, and partnerships and connectivity.

Rizwan Saeed Sheikh adds institutional texture. The Islamic Development Bank has already disbursed $65 billion among member states since its establishment. There is a Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) in Ankara, an Islamic Centre for Trade Development in Morocco, and a Trade Preferential System that has been negotiated but not yet entered into force due to insufficient ratifications. Pakistan’s chairmanship will push for that threshold to be crossed. And beyond the CFM itself, Pakistan will host an OIC-wide trade fair — likely in Lahore — later in the year, bringing all 57 member states together around commerce rather than politics.

A more active foreign office — and a rogue missile

By the end of the conversation, Muzamil asks about the visible shift in Pakistan’s foreign office over recent years — more active, more public-facing, more digitally engaged. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad credits the foreign minister’s hands-on approach, including an internal app called FM Direct through which any officer, from the most senior to the most junior, can send a message directly to the foreign minister and receive a response. Performance indicators for ambassadors now include trade and investment metrics alongside traditional diplomatic measures. The automation of the power of attorney system for overseas Pakistanis is cited as a concrete example of technology improving public service delivery.

Muzamil also raises two security incidents. On the hacking of Pakistani embassy social media accounts, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad says the ministry has reviewed its standard operating procedures, is conducting training sessions for officers managing social media handles abroad, and is consulting technical ministries on better protocols.

On the rogue Indian missile that landed in Pakistani territory — a far graver matter — Asim Iftikhar Ahmad is unambiguous. “This was a grave incident and the severity of this incident needs to be highlighted.” India’s explanation has been called “not sufficient” and “simplistic.” Pakistan has written to the UN Security Council, briefed the P5 and European partners, and the foreign minister has spoken to the UN Secretary-General. Pakistan is demanding a joint investigation and has put forward specific questions it says India must answer. “We are not ready to accept” the Indian response as it stands, he says. The matter will continue to be pursued.