OIC vows full support for Kashmir cause

Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha has said that Kashmir is on the top priority of the OIC’s agenda and he will submit a comprehensive assessment report on the human rights situation in Kashmir to member countries.

He made these remarks during a joint news conference with Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry on Sunday at the Presidency after meeting with Mehmood as well as the prime minister and a brief visit along the Line of Control (LoC) and refugee camps.

He said he was visiting AJK under the resolutions passed by the OIC contact group on Kashmir to assess the situation and will submit a comprehensive report to the group and Foreign Ministers’ Council of the member countries and would like to seek permission from India to visit the other side of the LoC.

He said the second purpose of his visit was to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir who had been suffering for a long time, assuring them that the OIC being a Muslim community was making constant efforts to find a solution to their issue in consultation with the world community.

He said during his day-long visit to AJK, he met with people affected by Indian firing along the LoC and refugees migrated from the Indian side of Kashmir due to atrocities to assess their problems and sufferings in order to make them part of his assessment report.

To a question, Taha said being the secretary general of the organisation, his duty was to take up this issue with all the stakeholders, and partners and to find out a solution of this long-standing issue.

“My duty is only to inform the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFMs) about the situation and thereafter they will find or suggest further line of action but the most important thing is to find a solution to this long-standing issue and for this purpose, I will also contact India,” Taha replied to questions during the presser.

He expressed gratitude to the AJK president for hosting his visit.

Earlier, while welcoming the secretary general, the AJK president said the visit of the OIC chief was a source of encouragement for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and called it “a big day” for the Kashmiri people.

Recalling his meetings with the secretary general, Mehmood said he held three meetings earlier. First during a summit conference in March last year, second in Jeddah in April and thereafter in Washington and New York on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting and found him very sympathetic towards the Kashmiri people, he added.

Mehmood said on the occasion of international human rights day, he informed the OIC chief about gross human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), adding that the secretary general had always supported the right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir.