ISLAMABAD, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that he would not attend the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in protest of the participation of Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
The United Arab Emirate (UAE), which is hosting the meeting in Abu Dhabi, had invited Indian foreign minister as a guest to the two-day meet scheduled to begin Friday.
Pakistan is a founding member of the 57-member organization.
Reports suggested the Indian minister arrived in Abu Dhabi Friday morning to take part in the inaugural plenary.
Qureshi, speaking at the joint session of the parliament in the capital Islamabad, said he would not join the OIC meeting. However, a lower level Pakistani delegation will attend in order to present Pakistan's resolutions.
Qureshi told the parliament that the Pakistani delegation at the OIC meeting would also staunchly oppose any move to grant observer status to India at the OIC.
"India is neither a member of OIC, nor it has any observer status to the group," the Pakistani foreign minister informed the lawmakers.
The joint session of the parliament was summoned to review the ongoing tension with India.
Qureshi said he contacted twice the OIC after the Pulwama incident to urge it to withdraw the invitation to India's foreign minister.
Tensions between the two neighbors have been running high after the Feb. 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which killed over 40 Indian paramilitary troopers.
New Dehli pointed finger at Islamabad for the attack, but the latter had denied the allegations.
On Tuesday Indian air force aircraft crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed area of Kashmir and claimed to have carried out airstrikes at militant camps.
In response, Pakistan said Wednesday that its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets inside Pakistani airspace and ground troops arrested a pilot of the destroyed aircraft.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that Pakistan will release the detained Indian pilot on Friday for the sake of peace and de-escalation of tensions between the two neighbors.
