Qureshi seeks OIC’s special session on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says all eyes are now on the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and there are expectations from it as there appears to be no end to the ‘crippling lockdown’ inside Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).

“The Kashmir matter is so serious and it has such importance that an extraordinary session of the foreign ministers should happen. We believe this is the minimum requirement keeping in view the conditions”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the visiting OIC Secretary General's Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir Yousef M. Al Dobeay.

Pakistan sees this visit as the "first and concrete step of the OIC playing its role in this serious and very sensitive problem". It also hopes that Kashmir is taken up as a stand alone issue as in the past the OIC has linked Kashmir and Palestine together.

Speaking at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office, Qureshi while reflecting the view of Pakistanis said that there were high hopes from the OIC and did not expect to be disappointed. "When there are raised hopes, there is also increased disappointment when there is no progress”, he said.

Pakistan now hopes that the briefings that Al Dobeay has received in Islamabad and after his visit to Azad Kashmir and to the Line of Control (LoC), he would be in a better position to brief the Secretary General of OIC. “We hope you will made the OIC more aware and tell them about the expectations of the Pakistani people. The sensitivity of this issue, then they will create room for our expectations in the plan it is forming as to how to move forward regarding this issue”, the foreign minister pointed to the future OIC plan on Kashmir.

Pakistan has being trying to push the OIC for a stand alone emergency meeting on Kashmir while noting that the OIC itself has multiple resolutions on this. “We are grateful that whenever we raised this issue in the OIC, we got a positive response”, added Qureshi, while also pointing out that the Indian steps pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region, an example of which was manifested in February last year when both India and Pakistan came to the brink of war.

Rubbishing India’s stand that Kashmir was a bilateral issue the foreign minister said, "The secretary general of the UN also visited recently and you are aware of what he said, his concern about the sensitivity of this issue and the human rights violations and how he brought the world's attention to the importance of the resolutions and the need for implementing those resolutions.”

The visiting dignitary was also brought up to date about the recent protests in Delhi which claimed the lives of 46 people, while numerous people were injured and are in hospitals, mosques were burnt, and other acts that "have hurt Muslims".

Qureshi reminded Al Dobeay that the mandate of his organisation is the defence of the rights of Muslims.

Al Dobeay in his remarks said, "The OIC fully supports the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. We keep this issue on the top of our agenda just like the Palestinian conflict. We reaffirm that all of our member states are supporting this issue so that the Kashmiris can get the right of self-determination. Pakistan has shown the world that it is a peaceful state by using diplomatic tactics in the situations," he said.

He pointed out that after visiting Jammu and Kashmir and also saw for himself the on-ground situation there together with a visit to the LoC, he would then present a detailed report to the Secretary General.

Paying tributes to Pakistan, Al Dobeay said, "Pakistan is one of the founding members of the OIC. We were convinced of its importance before and we are convinced of it today."

He also met with the Kashmir Committee and a delegation of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.