NEW YORK: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir has reiterated its support for the Kashmiri’s right to self-determination as per the UN Security Council’s resolutions, Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday.
Secretary General of the OIC chaired the session of the Contact Group attended by the foreign ministers and senior officials of the member states on the sidelines of 78th session of UNGA in New York.
It was declared in a joint communiqué, that the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is indispensable for durable peace and stability in South Asia in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
The group voiced serious concern over the statements by the Indian political leaders as well as senior military officers about their readiness to attack Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, terming such statements a serious threat to regional stability and peace.
OIC asks India to free Kashmiri leaders
It demanded India to reverse its unilateral and unlawful decision taken on 5 August 2019, stop the gross human rights abuses in the IIOJK, halt the illegal demographic changes in the occupied territory and free all detained Kashmiri political prisoners.
It also asked India to allow free access to UN Special Procedures, OIC fact-finding missions, international media and independent observers to visit IIOJK.
The member states expressed concern over the closure of the office of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar and denounced the ongoing campaign to confiscate the properties of Kashmiri activists.
The forum condemned the Indian authorities’ plea asking for capital punishment for renowned Kashmiri leader Yaseen Malik, who has already been awarded life imprisonment.
The OIC Contact Group asked the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue monitoring the situation in IIOJK and issue a third report regarding the ongoing human rights violations in IIOJK.
Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Jilani participated in the meeting and asked the OIC to put pressure on India to reverse its unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019.
He briefed the Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on continuing Indian atrocities in IIOJK, and highlighted the plight of the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir.
