OIC reaffirms support to Kashmiris, asks India to rescind IIOJK annexation

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has unanimously adopted a resolution condemning India’s illegal action of revoking Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) autonomous status and steps to change the demography of the Muslim-majority region.

“In a Resolution adopted unanimously by the 47th Session of the OIC in Niamey today, the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) reaffirmed its strong support for the Kashmir cause,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Saturday night.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who reached Niamey on Thursday, represented Pakistan at the 47th session of the OIC CFM.

The OIC in its resolution categorically rejected illegal and unilateral actions taken by the Indian government in occupied territory since August 5, 2019.

“The [OIC] Resolution demands that India cancel the issuance of domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris as well as other unilateral and illegal actions, including ‘Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Order 2020’, ‘Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020’, ‘Jammu and Kashmir Language Bill 2020’ and amendments to the landownership laws,” said the FO statement.

Rejecting policies being pursued by the ruling RSS-BJP regime, the 57 countries of the OIC asked India to refrain from taking any steps to alter the existing demographic structure of the disputed territory.

According to the FO communiqué, the OIC in a comprehensive and strongly worded resolution rejected the illegal and unilateral actions taken by India in August last year to change the internationally recognised disputed status of the IIOJK and demanded it to rescind its illegal steps.

The world’s largest Muslim organisation demanded Narendra Modi-led government to cancel the issuance of domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris and revoke all unilateral and illegal actions it has taken in IIOJK since August 5, 2019, while refraining from taking any step to alter the existing demographic structure of the disputed territory.

The OIC also condemned “in the strongest possible terms” human rights violations perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in the occupied territory and other such instances of Indian terrorism that have been the source of unspeakable suffering for the innocent Kashmiri people, said the communiqué.

It also deplored the state-sponsored terrorism and crimes against humanity by Indian occupation forces against people of IIOJK.

The alliance of Muslim countries censured extra-judicial killings during fake ‘encounters’ and ‘search-and-cordon’ operations and demolition of homes and private properties “as a form of collective punishment.”

It denounced the renewed use of pellet guns by the Indian occupation forces against innocent civilians and condemned the harassment of Kashmiri women by the Indian troops.

The OIC deplored that India has callously exploited the current Covid-19 pandemic to intensify its military crackdown and further advance its unlawful occupation in IIOJK.

The resolution also welcomed the upcoming visit of OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from March 2-6, 2020.

It also reaffirmed the sentiments expressed in the unanimously adopted Communiqués of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir in its Ministerial meetings held on 25 September 2019 and 22 June 2020.

The foreign ministers of Muslims countries urged India to adhere to its international human rights obligations and allow the OIC special representative on Jammu and Kashmir and the OIC Fact-finding Mission to visit IIOJK.

It also “strongly” urged India to implement recommendations of the two Reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Jammu and Kashmir and called upon international community to review their engagements with India, the occupying power, as it is violating and disregarding the international law, the international humanitarian law, and international resolutions.

The OIC emphasised that the question of Kashmir is of utmost importance for the Muslim Ummah and recognised that Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India, and its resolution indispensable for realisation of the dream of peace in South Asia.

The official statement said OIC summit also acknowledged that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the principal party to the dispute, and they should be included in any peace process for resolution of the dispute.

Any political process/elections held under foreign occupation cannot be a substitute to the exercise of the right of self-determination, the resolution said while noting that Kashmir dispute is an unresolved question of granting the right to self-determination to the people of occupied valley that has been on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades now.

Fundamental right enshrined in the UNSC resolutions that the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people, expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, it reaffirmed.

The OIC has decided to further consider the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at the 48th session of the CFM in Islamabad.

The 57-member OIC has been a consistent and vocal supporter of the Kashmir cause, and adoption of this resolution was a reaffirmation of the principled stance always taken by the OIC on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, said the FO in a statement.