A post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had been expelled from the Conference of Islamic Countries for condemning the construction of ‘Ram Temple’ in Ayodhya, India. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Pakistan PM Imran Khan was expelled from the Conference of Islamic Countries for condemning the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Fact: There is no evidence that Imran Khan had been expelled from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. There is no organisation which is named, ‘Conference of Islamic Countries’ presently. In 2019, OIC had voiced its concerns over the ‘issue of citizenship rights and the Babri Masjid case’. OIC has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with them in its disputes with India. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched on the internet whether Imran Khan was expelled from the Conference of Islamic Countries, we could not find any credible information about such news. If such a thing had happened, it would have been reported by all the major news outlets.
There is no organisation which is named, ‘Conference of Islamic Countries’ presently. However, there is an organisation called ‘Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’. OIC is a grouping of 57 member states with largely Muslim population; Pakistan is a member, but India (with third-largest Muslim population) is not. OIC calls itself the “Collective voice of the Muslim world”.
According to an article by WION, the OIC had snubbed Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir in 2020. The article refers to Pakistan, in 2020, when it wanted a mention of the issue of Kashmir on the OIC’s agenda on the 14th session of the Islamic summit conference. There was no mention of Imran Khan being expelled from the conference or the organisation.
OIC has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with them in its disputes with India. In a press release dated 22 December 2019, the OIC had voiced its concerns over the ‘issue of citizenship rights and the Babri Masjid case’. They said OIC is closely following the developments affecting Muslims in India. However, India had frequently rejected the resolutions adopted by the OIC referencing India.
To sum it up, there is no evidence to show that Pakistan PM Imran Khan had been expelled by the OIC.
