ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will address an emergency meeting called by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) contact group on Jammu and Kashmir, and brief them about the prevailing situation in the area, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.
It added that Monday’s ministerial-level virtual meeting was being held on Pakistan’s request to address the worsening situation in “Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).”
The talks will be chaired by OIC Secretary-General Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, with foreign ministers from member countries, including Azerbaijan, Niger, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and representatives of the OIC-Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) expected to attend.
“Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President and true representatives of the Kashmiri people will also participate in the virtual meeting,” the statement said.
Earlier on Sunday, Al-Othaimeen tweeted that the meeting was “part of a series of continuous #JammuAndKashmir Contact Group meetings to address the issue.”
The OIC’s contact group on Jammu and Kashmir was formed in 1994 to represent the organization’s views and coordinate measures to resolve the dispute.
“This is the third meeting of the contact group since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 in IOJ&K,” excerpts from the statement read, referring in part to New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status last year.
It added that the OIC and the IPHRC had consistently rejected India’s actions while reiterating support for the residents of Indian-administered Kashmir.
The meeting follows a visit by OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Ambassador Yousef Al-Dobeay, to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir in March this year, to reaffirm the organization’s support and solidarity with the Kashmiri people and acquire first-hand information of the situation along the Line of Control.
The OIC comprises 57 member countries with a total population of nearly 1.85 billion people, making it the second-largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations.
