ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will raise the issue of violations of the Line of Control (LoC) -- the de facto border dividing disputed Kashmir region in parts governed by India and Pakistan respectively -- at the 14th plenary session of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States, which opened in Rabat on Monday.
The PUIC comprises the parliaments of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation members states and was established in Iran in 1999, with its head office in Tehran.
Pakistan’s parliamentary delegation to Rabat will be led by Syed Fakhar Imam, the chairman of the national assembly’s Kashmir Committee.
“Pakistan’s delegation will seize the opportunity to apprise 54-Member PUIC forum about the continued violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity by India, which has brought the region to the brinks of war and devastation,” a statement released by Pakistan’s National Assembly read.
A suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month in which at least 40 Indian troopers were killed nearly led to war between the arch rivals India and Pakistan, both of whom claim the Himalayan Kashmir region in full but rule it in part. Last month, the nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged airstrikes and engaged in dogfights, raising fears of all-out war though tensions have since de-escalated.
The National Assembly statement said Pakistan would also brief the PUIC about steps taken by the parliament and government of Pakistan to ensure “peace and stability in the region [in the] wake [of] recent Indian aggression,” referring to Indian violations of Pakistan's airspace last month.
The statement also detailed two new resolutions included on the agenda on the Rabat meeting; one on the “situation in Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and [a] second Resolution on Protecting Muslim Women and Children ... under occupation and conflict.”
In a report released last year, the U.N. called for an international inquiry into excessive use of force in Kashmir by Indian security forces which it said had killed and maimed numerous civilians since 2016.
Earlier this month, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation adopted a resolution at a high-level meeting in Abu Dhabi, endorsing Pakistan's stance on the disputed Kashmir region.
In light of the recent flare-up of tensions between India and Pakistan, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had decided to skip the OIC’s 46th council of foreign ministers because his Indian counterpart had been invited to the event as a guest of honor.
