Pakistan has appealed to the OIC also known as Organization of Islamic Cooperation to step up its efforts against India on the matter of Kashmir.
Pakistani Foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi attended a meeting with Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s’ contact groupon Monday. The meeting wasa video conference seeing the current coronavirus outbreak and the safety of the members of the board. In the meeting the foreign minister of Pakistan said that the population of Kashmir has been facing and suffering a strict lockdown which not just includes staying at home but also various other enforcements like military siege, blocking of communications and unprecedented restrictions which are not being followed in the various part of the country. According to the foreign minister Qureshi these rules and restriction were imposed on Kashmir after the illegal and unilateral actions of the country’s government in the August 2019.
Qureshi called this lockdown in Kashmir as an enhanced repression of the Kashmiri population through fake encounters, extrajudicial killing and various other stringent measures. Qureshi wants the OIC to call out India for imposing such a strict lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir. Qureshi urges OIC to increases in efforts against India for such a cruel act.
The online video conferencing was headed by the Secretary-General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Dr.Youssef Al-Othaimeen. Members, ministers and delegates from other countries also attended this meeting. Azerbaijan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Niger were the few countries that attended this video conferencing meeting on Monday.
This was not the first time when these countries attended the meeting to discuss the Kashmir status after the 5th of August 2019. The meeting was the 3rd one in the list in August. India has also asked the OIC group directly to not make irresponsible statements without any facts to back them up.
Qureshi, the foreign minister of Pakistan also alleged the Indian forces have been suppressing and hiding information and reality of Kashmir from the entire world. He said that India is trying to prevent the world from knowing the reality of Kashmir and also suppressing and intimidating the journalists of Kashmir to not let out any actual and true information.
Pakistan has been trying to garner international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir’s special status of dividing the state in 2 union territories. After which India has also told that it won’t scrap the Article 370 as it is an internal matter and India also directly told Pakistan to accept this as it is the new reality.
Qureshi also told a media group after the OIC meeting that the group has agreed to form an observation mission to now the actual situation of Kashmir.
By Deepika Agarwal
