Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group has urged New Delhi to immediately end siege of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday.
He was briefing the media on emergency virtual meeting of the OIC Contact Group on IOJ&K, which was held earlier in the day.
Foreign ministers of member countries of the Contact Group – Azerbaijan, Niger, Saudi Arabia and Turkey among others – attended the meeting. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan also participated in the meeting.
FM Qureshi said he briefed the participants of worst human rights violations being committed in the occupied valley by Indian forces including the extra-judicial killings of Kashmiri youth.
He said the contact group called upon Indian to repeal all black laws in the disputed region and agreed to form an observation mission to assess the ground situation of the region.
On August 5, 2019 the Modi-led government revoked Article 370 and other related provisions from its Constitution, scrapping the country’s only Muslim-majority state with its autonomy. It was also split into two federally administered territories.
Simultaneously, it locked the region down, detaining thousands of people, imposing movement restrictions and enforcing a communications blackout.
FM Qureshi said the situation is deteriorating fast in IOJ&K while occupation forces and authorities are trying to crush the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiris.
He said hundreds of Kashmiris have lost their eyesight due to use of pellet guns and wide-spread extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris have taken place “but media is being gagged”.
The foreign minister said India is venting out its frustration of embarrassing defeat in Laddakh standoff with China, which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
“The group expressed concern on ceasefire violations along LoC , [Line of Control],” he added.
Earlier Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to step up its efforts to facilitate a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.
“The oppressed people of India occupied Jammu and Kashmir, now more than ever, count on the OIC and the Muslim ummah.
“The OIC must urge India to rescind its unilateral and illegal actions since August 5, 2019, implement the relevant UNSC resolutions to hold a UN-supervised plebiscite, halt its blatant human rights violations and provide unhindered access to […] human rights organisations and international media to investigate and report on the situation in the occupied territory.”
The foreign minister expressed these views while addressing a virtual meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting was held at a ministerial level to discuss the worsening situation in the occupied valley.
During the meeting, the foreign minister also urged the group to lend support for actively raising the issue at international forums. Qureshi said, “the situation has aggravated. It is marked by gross and systemic violations of human rights, and an escalating threat to regional peace and security.
“The current Indian leadership remains bent upon perpetuating India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. The ‘Hindutva’ agenda of the RSS-BJP combine is deliberately targeting defenceless Kashmiris with unspeakable violence to break their will.”
He said that Pakistan has consistently been raising the issue with the OIC and the international community about India’s “real intentions to change the demographic structure [of the occupied valley.
