KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has voiced disappointment over Qatar's reluctance to support the staging in Malaysia of an emergency session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) o­n the Iraq crisis, a report said Sunday.

Malaysia has proposed hosting the summit after the upcoming Non-Alligned Meeting (NAM) which would be held from Feburary 20-25. It will bring together leaders or representatives from NAM's 114 member states.

"We are disappointed because so many heads of governments of OIC countries who are also members of NAM will be here and it is a good opportunity for us to meet and discuss informally so that we can have a common stand," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times newspaper.

"Foreign Minister (Syed Hamid Albar) had in fact contacted Qatar before this but they were not agreeable to having such a meeting here."

Qatar now holds the presidency of the 57-member pan-Islamic body.