OIC slams India over rights' violation in Kashmir

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is dominated by nations like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, once again slammed India on the Kashmir issue.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the 13th summit of the OIC at Istanbul, the bloc comprising 57 Islamic nations expressed concern over “indiscriminate use of force and gross violations of human rights” by security forces of India in Kashmir.

India rejected all references to Kashmir in the final communiqué of the OIC summit. New Delhi also pointed out that the bloc had no locus standi on the issue.

The OIC called upon India to implement “numerous UN (United Nations) resolutions on Kashmir, which declared that the final disposition of the state of Jammu & Kashmir would be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite,” conducted under the auspices of the international organisation.

“The conference affirmed its support to the widespread indigenous movement of the people of the India Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOK) for their right to self determination. It urged that freedom struggle must not be equated with terrorism,” the OIC said in the statement. Pakistan has been most vocal within the OIC on the issue of Kashmir.

The bloc also accused security forces of India of indiscriminately using force and flouting human rights, resulting in “killing” of “thousands of innocent and unarmed civilians as well as injuring hundreds of others including women, children and elderly”. It also referred to the “killing of a 22 year old woman, Shaista Hameed, at Pulwama (in Kashmir)” on February 14.  

The OIC’s diatribe against India on the issue of Kashmir came just a few weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia and his meeting with King Salman in Riyadh. Modi also visited UAE last year. Saudi Arabia and UAE are among the nations that dominate the OIC.

“We completely reject all such references regarding matters internal to India, on which the OIC has no locus standi,” said  spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup.

HC questions J&K police 

Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Saturday directed the police to cite the law under which they have detained the girl, who was “molested” by a soldier in Handwara on Tuesday.

The mother of the 16-year-old girl, filed a petition before the high court on Saturday seeking release of her daughter and two other relatives from “illegal detention” of police, counsel for petitioner Parvaiz Imroz said.