The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir will hold an emergency meeting via videoconference on Monday to discuss the latest situation in the disputed territory.
The online meet will bring together the foreign ministers of the Jammu And Kashmir Contact Group member states: Azerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the OIC said in a statement.
OIC meeting to discuss Kashmir issue
“The meeting is part of a series of continuous Jammu And Kashmir Contact Group meetings to address the issue,” OIC Secretary-General Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen was quoted as saying.
OIC Secretary General Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen says the meeting is part of a series of continuous Jammu and #Kashmir Contact Group meetings to address the Kashmir issue https://t.co/KAAq9vOiAf @OIC_OCI pic.twitter.com/DQxweqLu4V
— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) June 22, 2020
The OIC, founded in 1967 and consists of 67 countries, is the collective voice of the Muslim world to ensure and safeguard their economic and political interests.
Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts but claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965, and 1971. Two of them have been over Kashmir.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against the Indian rule for independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.
Human rights violations not unnoticed by OIC
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict since 1989.
On Aug. 5, 2019 the Indian government revoked Article 370 and other related provisions from its Constitution, scrapping the country’s only Muslim-majority state with its autonomy. It was also split into two federally administered territories.
Simultaneously, it locked the region down, detaining thousands of people, imposing movement restrictions and enforcing a communications blackout.
OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) in 2019 condemned India for its ongoing gross human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and said that the systematic and systemic violations have a well-defined pattern that tantamount to ethnic cleansing and genocide of Kashmiris.
Read more: Genocide of Kashmiris: OIC’s Human Rights Commission condemns India
The statement said, “The Commission was appalled to note that, the Indian Government in an attempt to quell the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination, has resorted to relentless political, economic and communication blockade in IoK, which has completed more than 115 days with no sign of letting up in sight.”
The body noted that since August 5, the Indian government’s deployment of over half a million security personnel in the disputed territory has “practically turned the IoK into the biggest open prison”.
Moreover, it also declared India’s move to abrogate Articles 35A and 370 was illegal and void. The OIC’s body also stated that the move aims to change the “demographic composition of IOK” by making the occupied Muslim population a minority within their homeland.
OIC and Turkey condemn India’s treatment of Kashmiris
As the violence in India continues to persist, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in a two-part tweet condemned the violence in Delhi, “expressing its sincere condolences to the families of the victims” and describing the acts as “heinous”. “The OIC calls on Indian authorities to bring the instigators and perpetrators of these acts of anti-Muslim violence to justice and to ensure the safety and security of all its Muslim citizens and the protection of Islamic holy places across the country,” the tweet said.
#OIC condemns the recent & alarming violence against Muslims in #India, resulting in the death & injury of innocent people & the arson and vandalism of mosques and Muslim-owned properties. It expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the victims of these heinous acts. pic.twitter.com/NQjKVoLgXQ
— OIC (@OIC_OCI) February 27, 2020
Similarly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out on Thursday against “massacres” of Muslims in India after communal riots in New Delhi left at least 33 dead.
Read more: OIC, Erdogan slam India for ‘massacre of Muslims’
“India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims? By who? Hindus,” Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara after violence broke out this week between mobs of Hindus and Muslims over a citizenship law.
It is important to note that Indian politics is being shaped by the extremist politicians and strategists who intend to wipe out the Muslim minority from India.
Dr. Moeed Pirzada, prominent political commentator and columnist, noted that “Ram Rath Yatra, Mandal Commission, Ram Janma Bhoni movement, Attack on Babri Mosque, Demolition of Babri Mosque, Bombay riots, Nuclear Explosions of 1997, Kargil Conflict, Attack on Indian Parliament, Mobilization against Pakistan, Gujrat Pogroms, Mumbai terrorism everything in one or the other was skillfully utilized in redefining Indian narrative and politics moving it ever closer to the realization of a Hindu Rashtra which now exists in reality though it still needs a legal and constitutional cover”.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk
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