Daily Times

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan along with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood met OIC envoys based in Islamabad to thank them, on behalf of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, for OIC’s strong and unambiguous support to Kashmir cause during the OIC- CFM Session in Niamey.

Briefing the diplomats at Foreign Office, the President appreciated all the 57 OIC states for firmly standing with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and unanimously rejecting the unilateral and unlawful actions of India in occupied Kashmir, condemning attempts to change the demography of occupied territory by settling non-Kashmiri Hindus in the disputed territory, and demanding withdrawal of all unilateral illegal actions.

“The reiteration of the OIC’s principled position on Kashmir was also reflected in the declaration and people of the Jammu and Kashmir are thankful to all OIC’s countries for their steadfast support to their cause,”

Khan also expressed his deep appreciation to Pakistan and member-states to help the representatives of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to address the OIC foreign ministers at Niamey and listen to them. “The adoption of an effective, strong and comprehensive resolution by OIC Foreign Ministers is the victory of Pakistan’s principled stand on the Kashmir issue, and at the same time, it is an important development for the struggle of the Kashmiri people.

President Masood said that Pakistan Foreign Office headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had played a key role in this achievement. The foreign ministry under the leadership of FM Shah Mehmood Quarashi, he added, worked day and night, and turned the tide at the Niamey moot, getting the resolution approved and ensuring meaningful participation and address of the Kashmir delegation in the conference.

The State President said that the OIC had steadfastly stood by the people of Jammu and Kashmir since the approval of its first resolution on Kashmir in 1990. He asserted that nine million Muslims of occupied Kashmir, who are part of the Muslim world, were looking towards the Muslim community around the world for the help and rescue from Indian tyranny.

He told the ambassadors that the Indian regime, under a well-planned strategy was settling non-Kashmiri Hindus transferred from different parts of India in order to change the majority of Muslims into a minority in IOJK, and to grab the land and resources of Muslim majority state.

While describing Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir as the biggest hotspot of Islamophobia and anti-Islam activities, the AJK president said that the Muslims in IOJK were being systematically massacred, displaced, dispossessed and disenfranchised within their own homeland. He said 13,000 youth have been arrested and detained in prisons and detention centres for the purpose of indoctrination.

The President also interacted with the ambassadors of various Muslim countries before and after the briefing, and apprised them of the latest situation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi thanked the OIC ambassador for their arrival in the Foreign Office, and said that Pakistan being a founding member of the organization, considers it the highly important and effective forum for the resolution of Muslim issues.

While expressing thanks for supporting Pakistan’s stand on the Kashmir issue, Islamophobia and other issues of the Muslim world, he said that we welcome the condemnation expressed by the OIC member states for the flagrant human rights violations at the hands of Indian occupation troops in Jammu and Kashmir.

Referring to the OIC resolution adopted at the Niamey Conference and the reiteration of the principled stand of OIC on the Kashmir issue, the foreign minister said that the whole Muslim world is equally concerned over the serious situation prevailing in occupied Kashmir.