97India has to invest considerable political capital and diplomatic engage-
ments to placate the anger of the OIC members and restore confidence
among the governments in the Persian Gulf region. These efforts coin-
cided with New Delhi trying to reorient and reinvigorate its foreign policy
in the light of the end of the Cold War. Though Pakistan has been project-
ing India as an unsafe place for the Muslim, the diplomatic damage was
limited and not irreversible. A few months after the Babri Masjid demoli-
tion, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao visited Iran in September 1993 and
met senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and
this was the first high-level political exchange between the two since the
Islamic Revolution of 1979. This was followed by the visit of President
Hashemi Rafsanjani to India in April 1995, and besides expressing an
understanding of the government’s position, he went on to declare that
“being a Muslim and also an Iranian, I wish for peace and harmony in
India.” “To the great relief of Indians, Rafsanjani said that he hoped that
India’s detractors would not succeed in spreading disinformation and
hatred on contentious issues like the Babri Mosque and Kashmir” (Maitra
and Maitra 1995 , 37). One of his crucial itineraries was a visit to Lucknow,
the pre- eminent centre of Shia theology, located about 130 kilometres west
of Ayodhya (Gupta 1995 ). In subsequent years, the Kashmir issue contin-
ued to remain a significant agenda of the OIC and a headache for India.
Ironically the end of the Cold War which brought about significant
changes in India’s foreign policy also coincided with Pakistan intensifying
its efforts in the OIC in pursuance of its anti-India agenda. This process
began in the sixth summit held in Dakar in December 1991, the first post–
Cold War summit held against the backdrop of the liberation of Kuwait
earlier that year. For the first time in its history, the OIC adopted a resolu-
tion on Kashmir sponsored by Pakistan. Though the text is not available in
the official OIC site (OIC 1991 ), Pakistan Horizon referred to the resolu-
tion which it said was “adopted” at the summit. In the light of the discrep-
ancy the entire text as carried by Pakistan Horizon is reproduced here:
The resolution (OIC 1992 ) read:
Reaffirming the principles and objectives of the Organization of Islamic
Conference which emphasize the common goals and destiny of the peoples
of the Islamic Ummah,
Emphasizing the purposes and principles of the UN charter and recalling
the UN resolutions relevant to the Jammu and Kashmir,
Recalling that the Shimla agreement signed between the Governments
of India and Pakistan called for a final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir
issue,PAKISTAN FACTOR