ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that a unified political message to India from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would be critical to help rescind Indian unilateral actions, end human rights abuses and seek peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute.

The foreign minister, in a video message at the ambassadorial meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir held in New York, said the steadfast and resolute support of the OIC was a source of great strength to the Kashmiri people in their just and legitimate struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination.

The OIC should forcefully demand India to rescind its illegal and unilateral actions in occupied Kashmir; halt its egregious human rights violations, and provide access to human rights organisations, including the UN fact finding mission and OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, he said.

The foreign minister also sought the OIC’s role to seek a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people. He hoped that the Contact Group meeting would help identify action-oriented and practical steps to this end.

He said during its 47th session in Niamey last November, the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) mandated the Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir to meet regularly and to continue highlighting the Kashmir issue.

It was gratifying that the New York Chapter of the Contact Group is playing a prominent role in this collective effort, he said and lauded Azerbaijan, Niger, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for solidarity with the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The OIC secretary general leadership had been equally instrumental, he added.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2021