South Asia
OIC Conference OIC conference in Islamabad was a circus: Pakistan's former ISI chief
Islamabad: Pakistan's Former ISI chief Lieutenant General Asad Durrani has termed the 17th Foreign Ministers-level Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recently held in Islamabad as a 'circus'. He recently made this remark in a virtual webinar hosted by the Development Communications Network.
Durrani said the OIC had once again proved "useless" because of its lack of immediate action plans and pledges of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
The OIC summit was held on December 19 in Islamabad. Ambassadors of 57 countries met in it.
Durrani said the conference had only created a humanitarian trust fund in support of the Islamic Development Bank and food security programs to deal with the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan.
In fact, the only positive step for Afghanistan in this massive gathering was to set up an Islamic Development Bank and a trust fund called the Humanitarian Trust Fund for food security in a country plagued by money and food shortages.
However, this is the first time such a large international conference had been held since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.
What is the situation in Afghanistan? The number of hungry Afghans is growing alarmingly. Of the country's 36 million (3 crore 60 lakh) inhabitants, 22.8 million (2 crore 28 lakh) people are suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition.
Not only the Muslim world, the entire world expressed concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, but no one is ready to eradicate this plight.
According to the 2021 Global Hunger Index, Afghanistan ranked 103rd out of the 116 countries. The country's score on the hunger index is 28.3, which is said to be serious.
Durrani noted the need for global intervention and assistance in the face of growing hunger in Afghanistan.
The former Pak intel chief said the OIC had proved once again that it was not worth anything. He said no action or resolution had been taken at the OIC summit on providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
Durrani said, "Pakistan will suffer the most if it fails to play its proper role in Afghanistan during the crisis. It is unfortunate that, apart from political differences, the Muslim world has not yet been able to come up with a joint action plan to address the humanitarian crisis with the Taliban."
The conference was attended by representatives of the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. The main purpose of this huge conference was to ensure peace and solve the problems of the Afghan people.
