Pak threatens to boycott OIC meet over Sushma Swaraj's participation

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday threatened to boycott the next month's Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in the UAE if India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj participated in it.

Swaraj will attend the meeting as the 'guest of honour' and will address the plenary of the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers slated to be held in Abu Dhabi from March 1 to 2.

"I have no reservations with OIC or any other Islamic country. My reservations are with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's attendance at the OIC meeting. If Swaraj attends the meeting then I will not participate in it," Qureshi was quoted by Geo News as saying.

He claimed that he raised the matter with his Turkish and UAE counterparts.

The OIC on Tuesday "condemned" the aerial strikes carried out by India, urging New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise restraint to avoid further provocations that would "endanger peace and security in the region."

It called on both sides to resume bilateral dialogue towards de-escalation of the current situation "as a matter of priority."

India on Tuesday carried out air strikes on a terror camp run by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Balakot, a hill town in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, destroying a major camp of JeM and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the group which attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

In response, Qureshi said that Islamabad will respond to what he called "uncalled aggression" from New Delhi and warned India to be prepared for any "events of eventualities".

On Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir saw heightened military activity, with Pakistani jets violating the Indian air space.

India said it foiled an attempt by Pakistan Air Force this morning to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir by shooting down an F-16 fighter plane while losing its own MiG-21 jet after which a pilot was "missing in action".