ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday a recent visit of the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and areas near the Line of Control (LoC) would send a "strong message" of support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for the right to self-determination.
The LoC divides the disputed Kashmir region, claimed by both Pakistan and neighboring India. It runs 742km (460 miles) and acts as part of the de facto border between India and Pakistan, crossing through inhospitable terrain and separating hundreds of families and even dividing villages and mountains. It is often the site of cross-border shelling and skirmishes between the militaries of the two nuclear-armed nations.
Hissein Brahim Taha visited the Pakistani side of the disputed region of Kashmir on Sunday as part of a three-day official visit to Pakistan, his first bilateral trip to the South Asian nation since assuming office in November last year.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, center, prays after laying a wreath at the Jammu and Kashmir Monument in Muzaffarabad on December 11, 2022. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan foreign office)
On Sunday, Taha laid a wreath at the Jammu and Kashmir monument in Muzaffarabad and visited the LOC Chakothi sector. He also met with families of victims of cross-border firing.
On Monday, Taha met with the Pakistani premier in Islamabad to discuss a wide range of issues, including Kashmir, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Islamophobia.
“Welcoming the Secretary General’s historic visit to AJK and Line of Control (LOC), the Prime Minister underscored that his visit would send a strong message of support from OIC to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the right of self-determination,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement after the meeting between Sharif and Taha in Islamabad.
Sharif appreciated the OIC’s "principled position and consistent support" for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
The premier also renewed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian people and cause.
The two South Asian nuclear powers both claim the Kashmir region in full, but rule only parts, and have fought two of their three wars over the area.
Both sides often accuse each other of breaching a 2003 ceasefire pact by shelling and firing across the LoC. Since early 2021, the border has been mostly quiet, following the renewal of a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.
Headquartered in Jeddah, the OIC is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and has long supported Pakistan in its efforts for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with United Nations resolutions. This includes the formation of an OIC contact group in 1994 to support the struggle of the people of Indian-administered Kashmir for their right to self-determination.
