JEDDAH: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that he called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to show practical and action-based solidarity with the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
In response to the Indian government’s abolishment of Article 370 of the Constitution through a presidential decree, which granted special status to Indian-occupied Kashmir, Pakistan called for an emergency meeting of the OIC’s Kashmir-focused wing.
Addressing an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group in Jeddah on Tuesday, the foreign minister said: “Abolishing Article 370 and 35-A by Indian parliament is a flagrant violation of international laws.”
He lamented that thousands of Kashmiris had been martyred by Indian forces in the occupied territory since 1989.
The foreign minister said the deployment of more troops, closure of educational institutions and imposition of emergency like measures by India in held Kashmir, which is the most militarized region in the world, lay bare malevolent intentions of India.
He said he had brought the attention of the United Nations Security Council and General Secretary OIC to the apprehensions of Pakistan regarding the measures and steps taken by India. He added India’s steps can endanger peace in South Asia.
FM Qureshi urged the participants of the meeting to pay immediate attention towards this issue.
The delegations from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and other member countries participated in the meeting.
The Contact Group condemned India’s recent illegal and unilateral steps, aimed at undermining the demographics and the disputed nature of the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in contravention of the relevant UN resolutions, which seriously imperil regional peace and security.
The Contact Group reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute, pending on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council.
The Contact Group expressed their support to the efforts of the Pakistan government for the resolution of the dispute and declared solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting emphasized that durable peace in South Asia rests with a just and final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Security Council Resolutions.
The Contact Group urged India again to allow access to the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) and other international rights bodies on the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in order to independently verify the gross and blatant human rights violations.