Amid India’s ‘isolate Pakistan’ campaign, OIC invite to Swaraj a diplomatic victory

Amid India’s intensifying campaign to isolate Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has come as a big diplomatic victory for India and signals its rising global stature. Swaraj will attend the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC in Abu Dhabi as Guest of Honour on March 1, marking India’s presence at the OIC meeting in decades. Swaraj has been invited by UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to address the Inaugural Plenary of the OIC annual meet. “We see this invitation as the desire of the enlightened leadership of the UAE to go beyond our rapidly growing close bilateral ties and forge a true multifaceted partnership at the multilateral and international level,” said India’s external affairs ministry in a statement. “We see this invitation as a milestone in our comprehensive strategic partnership with the UAE. We also see this invitation as a welcome recognition of the presence of 185 million Muslims in India and of their contribution to its pluralistic ethos, and of India’s contribution to the Islamic world.”