Dar urges OIC unity on Kashmir at UN General Assembly

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday urged member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to keep a strong and unified position on Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations and all other international forums. He said the continuing restrictions on political and civic space in the territory demanded a clear collective response from the Muslim world.

He made the appeal while addressing a ministerial meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir in New York, held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Dar told the participants that political and civic space in the territory remains restricted, and he briefed them on what he described as Indian attempts to change its demographic, political and cultural character. He said these moves could not be ignored by the international community.

The deputy prime minister thanked the OIC Secretary-General, the members of the contact group, the OIC Special Envoy on Jammu and Kashmir and the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission for their support to the Kashmiri people, which he called steadfast and principled. He said this support had kept the issue alive on international platforms.

He recalled that Jammu and Kashmir has long been an internationally recognised dispute and remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council. He stressed that no domestic legislation, judicial verdict, electoral exercise or demographic manipulation can replace the Kashmiri people's inalienable right to self-determination. The right, he said, was not a matter of interpretation but a principle enshrined in UN resolutions.

Dar repeated Pakistan's commitment to a just and peaceful settlement of the dispute, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people. The meeting came during the high-level week of the General Assembly, where Pakistan has again placed the Kashmir dispute before the international community. Business Recorder and the Associated Press of Pakistan both carried accounts of the address.