NEW YORK, Sep 24 (APP): The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on underscored that the Kashmir dispute remained a vital priority on the OIC’s agenda and called for renewed efforts toward an early and peaceful resolution of the dispute.
The meeting of the Contact Group held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly here, reviewed the political and security situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and examined the deteriorating human rights conditions in the occupied territory, according to the Joint Communique formally adopted by the Group.
The meeting was attended by the member states of the Contact Group including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Niger and Azerbaijan. A delegation of the True Representatives of the Kashmiri People was also in attendance.
In his briefing, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi thanked the OIC and its Member States for their steadfast support to the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
He condemned India’s attempts to entrench its illegal occupation through draconian laws, repression, and demographic changes, noting intensified human rights abuses and arbitrary detentions since August 2019.
Fatemi reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to peace, stressing that lasting stability in South Asia depended on resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through genuine dialogue.
He urged the OIC to press India to end repression, free political prisoners, repeal draconian laws, and allow Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination under UN Security Council resolutions.
The participating delegations and members of the Contact Group reaffirmed their steadfast support for the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people to realize their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.
The meeting expressed solidarity with the government and people of Pakistan, and indicated their deep concern over the recent military escalation in the South Asia region, including the unjustified strikes carried out on multiple locations in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. They stressed the need to exercise maximum restraint and avoid actions that would destabilize the region.
The Contact Group welcomed the ceasefire between Pakistan and India and appreciated the constructive efforts made by all countries to mediate and bring the two parties together to reach this agreement;
Underscoring that the developments, unfolding since Pahalgam attack of 22 April 2025, had once again shown that durable peace and stability in South Asia would remain contingent upon the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
They emphasized that some of the Indian leaders’ unwarranted claims and irresponsible statements about Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan constituted a threat to regional peace and expressed their concern regarding the crackdown launch by the Indian authorities in IIOJK as a reprisal to the Pahalgam attack, including arrest of around 2,800 persons and demolition of about 3 dozen houses.
The body condemned the prolonged detention of the thousands of Kashmiri political workers, dissenters and human rights defenders; banning of a number of Kashmiri political parties; and the ongoing campaign to confiscate the properties of the Kashmiri activities;
Reiterating their rejection of illegal and unilateral actions taken by India on 5 August 2019, the participants stressed that any electoral exercise in IIOJK, pursuant to the Indian Constitution, could not serve as a substitute to the grant of the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
The body also urged India to improve the human rights situation in IIOJK, release all Kashmiri political prisoners, lift the ban on the outlawed Kashmiri political parties, repeal all restrictive and draconian laws, and implement the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
The Group requested the OIC-Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Line of Control to obtain the first-hand information about the situation on ground.