93Rabat. India did not fulfil either of the two criteria laid down by the
preparatory meeting, namely, Muslim-majority country or Muslim as the
head of state. Though Muslims are the largest minority, India is not a
Muslim-majority country; Zakir Hussein had passed away in May that year
and V. V. Giri had taken over as president (Mansingh 1984 , 211).
At the same time, India’s largest Muslim population could not be
ignored when a summit was to deliberate the conditions of the ummah
and to evolve a response to various problems facing Muslims, especially
the al-Aqsa fire and its consequences. Indeed, some of the largest protests
against the incident took place in India and an estimated ten million
people took part in a mass rally held in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 29
August (Kumaraswamy 2010 , 210). Though it was not a member of the
UN Security Council, India took the floor to describe the incident as “a
direct consequence of the illegal occupation of Israel of Jerusalem and
other Arab areas. Israel thus could not be absolved of its responsibilities
for the incident of 21 August 1969” (Kumaraswamy 2010 , 211).
Taking this into consideration, one account suggests that King Faisal
felt that “India should be invited since it had strongly supported the Arab
cause” on issues that were part of the expanded agenda of the conference,
that is, “Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories (and the) restora-
tion of the rights of the Palestinian people” (Noorani 2010 ). Acting upon
the ‘invitation’ from the organizers, India had nominated Union Minister
of Industrial Development Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as its representative for
the conference. Pending his arrival in Rabat, India was presented by its
“fully bearded and turbaned Sikh” ambassador to Morocco, Gurbachan
Singh (Mansingh 1984 , 212).
In the plenary session which began on 23 September, Ambassador
Gurbachan Singh stated:
It is a matter of gratification that the interest and concern of the people of
India, particularly her 60 million Muslim citizens, in the grave happenings
in West Asia have been recognized and that India has been invited to partici-
pate in this Conference. I should like to convey to Your Majesty, and
through you to this august gathering, our satisfaction at the unanimous
invitation which has been conveyed to the Government of India. The
Government and the people of India who have throughout been gravely
concerned at the serious situation in West Asia have been deeply shocked
and pained at the most recent outrage perpetrated in the holy city of
Jerusalem. We feel that the continued occupation of Arab lands by Israel andPAKISTAN FACTOR