Organisation of Islamic Cooperation concerned about Jammu & Kashmir situation

In a Joint communique issued by the Summit, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, it reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir is the core point of dispute between India and Pakistan. Pakistan claimed that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on India to implement UN resolutions in Jammu and Kashmir and expressed concern at the ‘violations of human rights’ in the state, this following the major meet up recently.

In a statement issued in Islamabad, the Pakistan Foreign Office said, “the 13th OIC Summit, held in Istanbul from 10-15 April, called on India to implement pending UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, expressed concern at the gross violations of human rights committed” in Kashmir.

It also said the OIC “affirmed support to the Kashmir struggle, which could not be equated with terrorism and called upon the UN for implementation of the Security Council’s relevant Resolutions on Kashmir which call for the resolution of the dispute and guarantee Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-determination through a UN supervised plebiscite.”

In the Joint communique issued by the Summit, the OIC “reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between India and Pakistan and its resolution is imperative for bringing peace in South Asia,” the Foreign Office said.

India has objected to the OIC support for a Jammu & Kashmir plebiscite while Pakistan called for an international probe into alleged killings in Jammu & Kashmir.

A welcome was given to the news of the establishment of a standing mechanism by the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) for monitoring the human rights situation in Kashmir which called upon India to allow an OIC Fact Finding Mission and the international human rights groups and humanitarian organisations access to Kashmir.

Pakistan appealed to the Member States and Muslim Institutions to grant scholarships to Kashmiri students in different Universities and institutions in OIC Countries. Also, the OIC Secretary General presented a report to the Summit wherein he highlighted that Jammu and Kashmir standoff was an unresolved issue.