Hina to represent Pakistan at OIC summit in Cairo

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will arrive in Egypt's capital Cairo on Tuesday to represent Pakistan at the 12th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit scheduled for February 6-7. The foreign minister will apprise the OIC summit on the situation of Muslims in Indian-occupied Kashmir, and highlight the country’s position on key issues of interest to the Muslim Ummah. According to an official of Pakistan’s Embassy in Cairo, Hina on the sidelines of the summit will co-chair the OIC’s Contact Group meeting on Jammu and Kashmir with the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. The foreign ministers and high officials of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Niger are likely to attend the meeting. President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Mohammad Yaqub Khan and the representatives of the Kashmiri people will also attend the group meeting. A memorandum containing proposals for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue will be presented to the OIC secretary general. The contact group meeting will take place on February 5 (today), when the people of Pakistan express solidarity with the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir. On the margin of the summit, the foreign minister will meet the Egyptian leadership and officials from OIC member states. A delegation of senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Additional Secretary (UN) Aizaz Chaudry, is already in Cairo for the preparatory meeting ahead of the summit. A communiqué of the summit is being negotiated, which will focus on the key issues of concern to Muslim Ummah, including Islamophobia, Palestine, Mali, Syria and Jammu and Kashmir.