Pakistan urges OIC to step up its efforts to facilitate lasting solution of Jammu and Kashmir.

Islamabad -- Pakistan on Monday urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to steps up its efforts to facilitate a lasting solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

'In view of the grave situation, the oppressed people of Indian-held Kashmir now more than ever count on OIC and the Muslim Ummah. The OIC must urge India to: rescind its unilateral and illegal actions since 5 August 2019; implement the relevant UNSC resolutions to hold a UN-supervised plebiscite in occupied valley; halt its blatant human rights violations and provide unhindered access to OIC, IPHRC, UN, human rights organizations and international media to investigate and report on the situation in the occupied territory,' Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi told an emergency virtual meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. He urged the member states to raise the issue at various international forums, including the UN and Human Rights Council (HRC) through the OIC platform.

The virtual interaction aimed at taking stock of the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Indian-held Kashmir as well as formulating a way forward. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Niger KallaAnkourao, OIC Secretary General Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen and AJK President Masood Khan also attended the session.

Addressing the forum, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the current Indian leadership remains bent upon perpetuating India's illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. 'The Hindutva agenda of the RSS-BJP combine is deliberately targeting defenceless Kashmiris with unspeakable violence to break their will. Brute force is being used to crush the Kashmiris' quest for their fundamental rights - especially the right to self-determination enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council and OIC resolutions,' he said. 'For the last 10 months, the Kashmiri people have endured untold suffering from continuous lockdown, military siege, communications blockade, and unprecedented restrictions,' he went on to say. 'The Indian occupation forces have since violated even basic human right of the Kashmiri people and employed every tool of oppression to further consolidate their stranglehold,' he added.

He said in order to prevent the world from knowing the real...