OIC Contact Group expresses alarm at the situation in the IIOJK

NOUAKCHOTT, Mar 17 (SABAH): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari participated in the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of the 49th OIC CFM in Nouakchott, Mauritania on Friday.

Chaired by OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, the Meeting was attended by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Niger, Azerbaijan and true representative of Kashmiris and OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC).

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto briefed the Contact Group on the humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). He explained that the situation in IIOJK had deteriorated with India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 and the subsequent attempts at demographic changes in the occupied territory. By issuing millions of fake domiciles to non-Kashmiris and enacting laws that allow non-residents to buy and own land in IIOJK, India was trying to convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land. These steps were in flagrant violation of international law especially the Fourth Geneva Convention which interdicts an occupying power from taking such measures.

The Contact Group expressed alarm at the situation in the IIOJK and adopted a Joint Communique reaffirming OIC’s position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and reiterating its firm rejection of India’s unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019. It requested the OIC Secretary General and the Member States to raise their voices for the just cause of Kashmir at the international fora and hold India accountable for its oppression of the Kashmiri people. The Contact Group also called upon India for immediate cessation of human rights violations in the IIOJK and taking steps for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.