The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General's Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Yousef M Al Dobeay, on Tuesday said the OIC and its members supported Pakistan's stance on Kashmir and the right to self determination of the Kashmiri people.
Speaking at a joint news conference along with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the visiting special envoy of the OIC on Jammu and Kashmir said that the OIC on many occasions had condemned the Indian atrocities and demanded full respect to human rights in the occupied valley.
"Jammu and Kashmir is very important for the OIC. We discuss this issue in our meetings and it remained on top of the agenda in our meetings like the issue of Palestine. We, all the member states, are unanimous in supporting the Kashmir issue," Al Dobeay said, adding that Pakistan was an active member of the OIC and the forum supported its stance on the dispute.
He pointed out that soon after the August 5, 2019 steps by Indian government, the OIC immediately gave its response and expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
"We all member states support Pakistan's stance [on Kashmir]. OIC will always support that the issue is resolved peacefully through dialogue," the special envoy of the OIC said who is leading a six-member delegation to get the first-hand information about the situation.
Al Dobeay said that he and his delegation would visit Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday (today) and at the conclusion of the visit from March 2-6, the delegation would present its report to the OIC secretary-general.
Responding to a question about Pakistan's request to convene an extraordinary session of the OIC's Council of Foreign Ministers (CFMs) on the situations of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he said that it was up to the leadership of the member states to take any decision with regard to convening of the OIC's CFMs meeting on Kashmir.
"As a special envoy, I don't have the mandate to demand such a session. It's up to the member states to decide, if they will have any special session of the CFM on Kashmir," he explained.
To another query, he said that the OIC and its secretary-general are making efforts for early resolution of the Kashmir issue. He said that the human rights violations in Kashmir were at the top of agenda of the OIC "which is upsetting for all of us and we want that this issue is resolved first".
He said that OIC had always strongly supported the resolution of Kashmir issue. He said the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir was established in 1994 and since then it had actively raised the issue time and again. Al Dobeay said a formal session of OIC was convened on Pakistan's request after removal of special status of occupied Kashmir by India on 5th August last year.
"Pakistan is hoping us to make more efforts from the platform of the OIC to highlight the injustices in the Jammu and Kashmir and the Muslims in India," he said, adding that for the last 40 years, the forum was highlighting the issue and extending political support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
"The purpose of our visit is also to convey that the OIC is very upset with what is happening in Kashmir," he added. Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Minister Qureshi said that people of Pakistan had high hopes attached to the OIC as it had always raised its voice for the resolution of Kashmir issue. "Pakistan and its people have certain expectations from the OIC and we hope that it will not disappoint us," he said, adding: "when there are high hopes, it also leads to disappointment when there is no progress ... and people also have reservations [with no progress]".
Qureshi said that he was confident that the special envoy would make the OIC more aware about Kashmir and convey the expectations of the people of Pakistan to the forum. The foreign minister said that during his meeting with the special envoy, he apprised him about the expectations the people of Pakistan and the people of Kashmir attached with the OIC and "the importance they give to the role of the OIC".
Qureshi said that during his visit to Riyadh, he had conveyed to his Saudi counterpart that the situation in Kashmir was so serious and it was high time to convene an extraordinary session of the OIC's CFM on Kashmir. "We believe this is the minimum requirement, keeping in view the situation in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir," he said, adding that he was confident that when the special envoy would go back and brief the secretary-general on the sensitivity of the issue, "they will create room for our expectations".
He said that during his meeting with the special envoy he informed him about the importance and need for implementing the resolutions of the UN Security Council on the Kashmir issue.
He said that Al Dobeay was apprised of the threat to the regional security posed by the unresolved Kashmir issue. "That threat to the regional security, a small demonstration of which you all saw in February 2019 when two countries [Pakistan and India] faced each other," Qureshi said, while referring to the events of February 26 and 27 last year.
The foreign minister further said that the visiting special envoy of the OIC was also briefed about the discriminatory laws in India and the concerns of Pakistan. He said that the OIC's envoy was also briefed about the protests in New Delhi, where 46 people lost their lives.
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