Kashmir and the OIC
Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of partition. After a brief war in 1948, the Indian government invoked UN intervention to settle this problem. Despite the UN resolutions prescribing a referendum and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s pledge endorsing those resolutions, Kashmir remains a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. It has emerged as the most dangerous nuclear flashpoint that threatens the peace of the entire region.
Apparently Kashmir looks like a territorial issue between India and Pakistan. But more importantly, it is also a question of self-determination for millions of Kashmiris. They are yet to decide their future in accordance with international legality. This has been reiterated by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Human Rights Council. Kashmir has traditionally enjoyed vast autonomy. This autonomy, enshrined in the Indian constitution, was given a fatal blow last month by the Indian government. Fearing a massive backlash, the Indian government imposed a curfew and communications blackout that continues.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) took immediate cognizance of Indian decision to scrap the constitutional articles granting autonomy to Indian-administered Kashmir and protecting its demographic composition. The OIC Contact Group on Kashmir met in Jeddah and expressed grave concern over the human rights situation. It urged the Indian government to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of its people as enshrined in the UN resolutions. It asked the Indian government to allow a delegation of the OIC Permanent Human Rights Commission to visit Kashmir. The Indian government, which has so many skeletons in its Kashmir cupboard, has not responded.
A mutually acceptable Kashmiri-owned and Kashmiri-led solution will not only benefit both India and Pakistan but also the entire region.
Javed Hafeez
India deems Kashmir to be its internal matter whereas the legal position is exactly the opposite. The UN recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory. In 1972, India and Pakistan vowed to resolve this issue bilaterally. In the 1950s, India formally granted autonomy to the region, in accordance with a resolution of Kashmir’s constituent assembly. New Delhi’s unilateral action to abrogate the special status of Kashmir has internationalized the issue like never before. Kashmiri diaspora has held demonstrations around the globe. All important international newspapers have given wide coverage to the gross human rights violations by India. Important newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times have been at the forefront. Kashmir has been discussed at the UN Security Council, European Parliament, and the Human Rights Council.
The OIC member countries’ delegates met again in Geneva recently under the chairmanship of the foreign minister of Pakistan on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council meeting. The Council had expressed grave concern over massive human rights violations in Kashmir and urged a resolution of the dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions. Fifty-eight countries in Geneva voted for a resolution tabled by Pakistan. This indicates that international support for the cause of Kashmiri people is increasing, much to the chagrin of India.
Though not identical, the issues of Palestine and Kashmir have many similarities. Both have been on the UN agenda for more than seventy years now. The OIC was established in 1969, to coordinate action among member countries, after the despicable incident of setting the Al Aqsa mosque on fire. Since then, Palestine and Kashmir have figured prominently on the OIC agenda. The OIC has traditionally been supportive of the Pakistani position on Kashmir. However, developments like inviting the Indian foreign minister as a guest of honor at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Conclave in March this year obliged Pakistan to make its reservations public. A country that had attacked a founding member of the OIC, a few days before that event, should not have been honored by that organization.
Kashmir is currently under siege. It badly needs humanitarian assistance. A media and communications blackout has added somberness to the sad scene. A mutually acceptable Kashmiri-owned and Kashmiri-led solution will not only benefit both India and Pakistan but also the entire region.
The OIC should come up to the expectations of Kashmiris in their hour of need.
A plenary special session at the foreign ministers’ level, to discuss the grave situation in Indian-administered Kashmir was supposed to be convened.
While its request for sending a delegation to verify the human rights situation has found little traction with India, the OIC should keep up its political pressure as Kashmir is the only Muslim majority state in India.
• Javed Hafeez is a former Pakistani diplomat with much experience of the Middle East. He writes weekly columns in Pakistani and Gulf newspapers and appears regularly on satellite TV channels as a defense and political analyst.
Twitter: @hafiz_javed
