By Mumtaz Hussain
NEW YORK: The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting here reaffirmed the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Indian occupied territory in accordance with the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
Ministers and senior officials of the member states of the OIC Contact Group met on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The secretary general of the OIC chaired the meeting.
According to the joint communique of the meeting, the meeting also reaffirmed the earlier OIC pronouncements and resolutions on the dispute.
It recalled the two reports issued by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in June 2018 and July 2019 and said that it had comprehensively documented the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Indian Illagally Occupied Kashmir.
The participants welcomed the role played by the UN special rapporteurs, world leaders, parliamentarians, human rights organizations and international media in raising their voice against human rights violations in IIOJK.
The Contact Group demanded that India should reverse all illegal and unilateral measures taken on or after 5 August 2019, aimed at altering the demographic structure and political landscape of IIOJK, stop human rights violations in the IIOJK, release all Kashmiri political prisoners and lift the ban on all outlawed Kashmiri political parties.
It also asked to repeal all restrictive and draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, allow unrestricted access to UN special procedures, OIC and IPHRC fact-finding missions, international media and independent observers to visit IIOJK, and implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
