ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister has urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to transform its pronouncements on the disputed Kashmir region into “tangible actions,” the Pakistani foreign office said on Sunday, following a meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 51st session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Istanbul, which came in the backdrop of Israeli military campaign against Iran and Pakistan’s recent military conflict with India.
While Pakistan’s brief standoff with India ended in a ceasefire last month, Israel’s attacks on Iran were followed by US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, raising fears of further instability in an already volatile region.
Addressing envoys of OIC member states, Pakistan’s deputy premier and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, described New Delhi’s actions in Indian-administered Kashmir as a replication of the Israeli designs in Palestine, referring to alleged human rights violations and attempts to change demographics of the disputed Himalayan territory.
“The OIC’s pronouncements on Jammu and Kashmir are a major source of support to the Kashmir cause,” Dar said. “However, in view of the mounting challenges to the Kashmiri struggle, the OIC should transform its pronouncements into tangible actions. The Organization should scale up its efforts for mitigation of the Kashmiri people’s sufferings and finding a just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”
