MUZAFFARABAD: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has stated that it has been developing a strategy to establish a means of communication between Pakistan and India in its sincere efforts to resolve the enduring Kashmir dispute.
During a brief media briefing on Sunday at President’s House, OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha stated, “I think the most important thing is to find the channel of discussion between stakeholders [India and Pakistan],” adding, “We are working on a plan of action in this regard in collaboration with the Pakistani government and other member countries.”
He went on to say, “That’s why we need the mandate of member states and we should know that most diplomacy issues should not be [discussed] on the street.”
Barrister Sultan Mahmood, President of AJK, Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira, members of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir, and senior OIC general secretariat officials were also present.
Mr. Taha told the media that he was on the tour to put into action a resolution that the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) had recently adopted because he wanted to see for himself how things were actually going.
“We are here to express our solidarity, sympathy, and the OIC’s determination to find a solution to this longest conflict between India and Pakistan [in collaboration with our partners, the international community, and our member states],” reads the statement.
He stated that Kashmir is a member of the OIC, which bears both collective and individual responsibility for discussing this matter in order to resolve it.
He hinted at the limitations of the forum when asked why some OIC member states were going “an extra mile” to express their “appreciation and fondness” for India despite the country’s ongoing denial of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, its war crimes in the occupied territory, and its state-sponsored persecution of Indian Muslims. I simply need to underscore that in OIC we are dealing with the premise of the goals that were embraced by the part states. Be that as it may, all states have their own power despite the fact that we are [from] a similar local area,” he said.
Read: Timeline of Kashmir conflict; from 1947 to 2021
He stated that, in light of the OIC delegation’s visit to the Line of Control, he would provide the CFM with a comprehensive report and ask them to “take the right decision.” The foreign ministers will ultimately make the decision.
In his opening remarks, the president of the AJK stated that Kashmir was not a territorial dispute but rather a question regarding the nation’s future. He thanked the OIC secretary general for his unwavering support of the right to self-determination enjoyed by Kashmiris living in India-held territory.
Mr. Kaira drove the delegation to the Chakothi sector earlier to receive an update on the LoC situation from a military commander. The designation visited the Saints’ Landmark in Chattar, where Mr. Taha likewise laid a botanical wreath. They likewise communicated with a gathering of casualties whose families had confronted passings and obliteration due to truce infringement.
