Govt’s OIC decision unfortunate, international forums must be engaged: Bilawal

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday termed the government’s decision to not attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi as “unfortunate.”

In a tweet following Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s announcement that Pakistan will not attend the OIC moot in protest against the OIC's decision to invite Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Bilawal said important international forums must be engaged at this critical time.

“Unfortunate government has decided not to attend OIC. Important international forums must be engaged at this critical time. To put Pakistan’s point of views across and expose India’s belligerence & naked aggression. Cutting your nose to spite your face is never a great strategy,” the PPP chairman said. 

In a joint session of the Parliament earlier today, Foreign Minister Qureshi reiterated his protest against the OIC's decision to invite his Indian counterpart Swaraj to attend the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi, and said he will not attend the session due to the inter-governmental organisation's failure to rescind the invitation to Swaraj.