On Thursday, Pakistan urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to enhance efforts in facilitating a lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute.
Addressing a meeting of the OIC Contact Group in New York, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the persecuted people of Indian-occupied Kashmir were now vigorously reliant on the OIC and the Muslim Ummah.
He requested the members to raise the issue at all relevant forums of the United Nations including the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
The minister condemned Indian forces for using pellet guns, imprisoning Kashmiri political leaders, abducting children and women, arranging fake encounters, and indulging in a killing spree of Kashmiri youth in the occupied territory.
‘Disseminate Pakistan dossier on Kashmir among SCO members’
Qureshi informed the meeting that the government of Pakistan had recently released a comprehensive and well-researched dossier containing the whole scope of gross, systematic, and widespread violations of human rights perpetrated by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.
“The 131-page dossier covers accounts of 3,432 victims of war crimes perpetrated by senior officers of Indian occupation forces. The crimes cataloged in the dossier are corroborated by video and audio evidence that we have meticulously gathered over time,” he told the participants.
He urged the secretary-general of the OIC to circulate the dossier among all members of the organization and have it widely disseminated.
“There will be no peace in South Asia until the just and equitable resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with resolutions of UN and the wishes of Kashmiri people,” the foreign minister stressed.
Hitting out at the extremist “Hindutva ideology” of the incumbent Indian government, Qureshi mourned that the RSS-BJP regime had also boarded on a design to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory and demolish the distinct identity of the Kashmir people.
He said over 4.2 million fake certificates had already been issued in another “so-called” Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate (Procedure) Rules, 2020.
Recalling the death of veteran Kashmir leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, he said the Indian barbarity was exposed by the treatment of mortal remains of the “great leader” who passed away on Sept 1, 2021, after prolonged and illegal detention.
The foreign minister said Geelani was imprisoned for 50 years but never gave up his demand for Kashmir’s freedom.
“Despite his age and failing health, he was not allowed to seek medical treatment abroad. Even as his family mourned his loss and prepared for his funeral, a heavy contingent of Indian forces entered their home and forcibly snatched Geelani’s body and denied him the last rites of a Muslim funeral and buried him at a non-descript place rather than the cemetery of martyrs,” added the minister.
Further, He rebuked the Indian forces for charging Geelani’s family members for covering the body of the late leader in the Pakistani flag.
“The government of India was so afraid of Syed Geelani as they resorted to this inhumane act even after his passing,” he said, adding that it clearly showed India would trample all civil and human values to perpetuate its brutal occupation of Kashmir.
‘India must create a conducive environment for Kashmir talks’
The foreign minister said Pakistan had expected that after the ceasefire agreement this year in February, India would find positive ways to enable resumption of engagement for resolution of the dispute. “Instead India intensified its repression,” he said.
Qureshi underlined that Pakistan was ready to draw in with India for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute yet the onus was on the neighboring nation to establish a favorable environment. “It must reverse its unilateral and illegal measures instituted since Aug 5, 2019,” he said.
The foreign minister also called upon India to stop human rights violations, halt and reverse the demographic changes in the occupied territory.
He also welcomed the OIC’s Contact Group for making an “invaluable contribution in galvanizing global attention to the worsening situation in the IOK”.
