Islamabad: The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), an exclusive club of Islamic countries was all set to shun its antagonism towards India and admit it as a full-fledged member in 2002 but backtracked at the last moment after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf threatened to withdraw from the grouping.

Musharraf averted an "unprecedented disaster" for foreign policy by threatening to pull out from the OIC after the Islamic group geared up to move a resolution to admit India in its ranks at foreign ministers meeting in Khartoum in Sudan in 2002, 'The News' daily said on May 26.

"The OIC conference of foreign ministers held in Khartoum in June 2002 in a closed door meeting began discussing the possibility of admitting India as a member of the OIC considering its massive population of Muslims," it quoted an unnamed official of Pakistan foreign ministry as saying.

India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia.

The OIC move was backed by several Arab countries he said but declined to reveal their names.

Watching the situation going out of hand, the then Information Minister, Nisar Memon, who represented Pakistan in the absence of a full-fledged Foreign Minister, called Musharraf and sought his guidance.

"Memon told Musharraf that a formal resolution was being passed the next day recommending the admission of India to OIC and sought guidance," the official said.

"Musharraf immediately asked Memon to contact the OIC secretary-general as well as the key Arab states in favour of the move to admit India and convey to them that if a resolution is passed, Pakistan will immediately withdraw from OIC," he said adding Musharraf also authorised Memon to hold an immediate press conference to castigate the Gulf countries if they went ahead with their resolution.

" Musharraf authorised Memon to give a matching response to the concerned quarters if its warning against admitting India went unheeded and to announce Pakistan's withdrawal from OIC," the official said.

The OIC however dropped the resolution after Memon conveyed Musharraf's threat. "The warning worked and Pakistan managed to scuttle the movement for the resolution...and (instead) managed to have OIC pass a resolution, condemning the flagrant Human Rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

The disclosure followed recent remarks by Musharraf that Pakistan has to wage its battle on the crucial issues like India and Kashmir alone and cannot count on others.

His remarks were interpreted in the media as how even the Islamic bloc of countries kept silent and often paid only lip service to issues relating to Pakistan strategic interests.

The revelation that OIC was ready to admit India was also seen as a major setback for Islamabad as it reflected the deep forays made by India in winning influential friends in the Islamic world.

On its part India declined to extend diplomatic recognition to OIC for its reluctance to admit it.

PTI