The unwavering OIC resolution on Kashmir
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Pakistan is a founding member of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) which is the second largest international organization in the world after the United Nations. Palestine and Kashmir are two important and perennial agenda items for important plenary meetings of this 57-member strong body. The volatile region of Jammu and Kashmir-- the bulk of which lies under Indian administration since 1947-- has been the focus of the OIC’s attention since 1989, when a popular Intifada began in protest against rigged elections there. In 1994, the OIC set up a special contact group on Kashmir.
The contact group has been active ever since, meeting at least once a year in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly sessions at the ministerial level. Last year, the organization appointed Yousaf Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia as its special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir. The envoy visited Pakistan this year and was taken to the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan, which has witnessed incessant shelling by Indian forces for the last few years.
This year there was some speculation in the media ahead of the ministerial meeting in Niger, that it was possible the OIC might not attach its usual importance to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute now, in view of regional developments.
But the resolution passed by the Niger meeting is not only strong-- it includes scathing criticism of Indian policies in Kashmir.
It rejects India’s efforts to change the disputed region’s political, legal and demographic character and asks the Indian government to cancel the domicile certificates issued to non-Kashmiris since August 2019. It has also been asked to withdraw amendments to land ownership laws in the disputed state and refrain from human rights violations in Kashmir with particular reference to the treatment of women.
It appears we live in a world where morality and legality are fast receding in the conduct of international affairs. In the given situation, the latest OIC resolution on Jammu and Kashmir is a source of solace to the world, to Pakistan and to the Kashmiri people.
Javed Hafeez
The resolution is a resounding condemnation of the use of pellet guns by protesters and rape as a weapon of war, and declares elections in the Indian-administered territory as illegitimate. While the resolution was welcomed in Pakistan, it was rejected by Indian authorities. India now claims Jammu and Kashmir as its integral part and therefore, the latest OIC resolution is deemed an interference in its internal matters. This position is factually incorrect and militates against several UN and OIC resolutions.
Interestingly, it was India that first took the issue of a disputed Kashmir to the United Nations in 1947 after the creation of Pakistan. The world body, in turn, passed resolutions that prescribed a free plebiscite under its own supervision to better know the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Kashmir, a Muslim majority area has a longer border with Pakistan, which a majority of its people have wanted to join. But that right has been persistently denied to the Kashmiris, in clear violation of UN and OIC resolutions based on the universally accepted right of self determination.
The resolution adopted in Niger reiterates the OIC’s principled position on a peaceful settlement in Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with relevant UN Security resolutions.
This shows the OIC’s consistent stand which also reflects the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Kashmir in fact, is the most dangerous nuclear flash point in the world today. When India unilaterally overturned its own constitutional guarantees for autonomy for the Kashmiri people and the protection of their demographic composition last year, China condemned the move and there were border skirmishes with India. China obviously has misgivings about the Indian decision to declare bordering Ladakh-- internationally declared as a disputed territory-- as a union territory.
Historically, while rejecting third party mediation, India would argue that Jammu and Kashmir was a bilateral matter for Pakistan and India to decide mutually. But New Delhi’s unilateral decision of Aug. 5, 2019 made a mockery of that position and virtually buried the Simla Agreement of 1972, which India had signed on its own soil.
It appears we live in a world where morality and legality are fast receding in the conduct of international affairs. In the given situation, the latest OIC resolution on Jammu and Kashmir is a source of solace to the world, to Pakistan and to the Kashmiri people.
– 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
