His Excellency Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha, Secretary General, Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Honorable Foreign Ministers,

Senior Officials,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, I wish to express my profound gratitude for your participation in today’s meeting. Your gracious presence attests to the importance that you attach to the just struggle of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for realization of their right to self-determination.

I also wish to thank the Honorable Secretary General and his team at the OIC General Secretariat for their support in convening this meeting.

A number of important developments have taken place since this Contact Group’s last meeting in New York, held on 20 September 2023. I would like to brief you on them.

I am confident that today’s exchange of views will help us take stock of the current situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and consider the ways and means to support the oppressed Kashmiri people.

Mr. Chairman,

The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved international disputes. It has been on the agenda of the UN Security Council since 1948.

In the last 76 years, India has tried different methods to perpetuate its illegal rule on Jammu and Kashmir. However, an intensified campaign to ‘Indianize’ Kashmir, and transform Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land, has been in full swing since 5 August 2019. On that day, India scrapped the special status of the IIOJK; took it into the direct control of New Delhi; bifurcated it into two so-called “Union Territories”; and ended some special protections given to the local people.

Since then, the Indian authorities have taken a number of steps to change the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK, including gerrymandering of the electoral constituencies, allowing addition of non-Kashmiris to voter rolls, issuance of domicile certificates to outsiders, and introduction of new laws on ownership of land and property.

Amongst other factors, India’s oppressive campaign to subjugate Kashmiris is influenced by ‘Hindutva’ideology, whichseeks to normalize the systematic marginalization of minorities, especially Muslims.

This is the backdrop in which I wish to draw your attention towards some important dimensions of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Chairman,

The UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir affirm the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination. Unfortunately, these resolutions have not been implemented during the last seven decades and a half. 

Notwithstanding lapse of considerable time, these resolutions remain valid, as the UN Security Council resolutions can only be invalidated by fulfillment of the obligation, consent of the parties, or a subsequent resolution or decision of the Security Council. Besides, in accordance with the Article 25 of the UN Charter, all Member States agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Thus, India’s actions of 5 August 2019, and the subsequent steps ever since, constitute a breach of the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions, and international law, including 4th Geneva Convention.

In its judgment of 11 December 2023, however, the Supreme Court of India has endorsed the Indian government’s actions of 5 August 2019.In the eyes of international law, any process, subservient to the Indian Constitution, cannot be invoked to determine the final status of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an internationally-recognized disputed territory.

As Jammu and Kashmir is an international dispute, the Indian government or its judiciary have no right to take unilateral measures against the will of the other parties to the dispute i.e. Kashmiri people and Pakistan.

Mr. Chairman,

India is systematically denying the Kashmiri people their fundamental rights and freedoms. To crush dissent, the Indian authorities have created an environment of fear and intimidation in IIOJK. Their oppressive tactics include extrajudicial killings; arbitrary arrests; torture; enforced disappearances; excessive surveillance and confiscation of property. A number of UN Special Procedures have already expressed concerns about different facets of this dismal situation.

The true representatives of the Kashmiri people remain behind the bars for the past several years, with the total number of political prisoners being in thousands.

The Indian authorities have sought death penalty for one of the most prominent Kashmiri leaders, Mr. Yaseen Malik, who was awarded life sentence in 2022.

Freedoms of assembly, expression and religion are seriously challenged in IIOJK.To stifle dissent, the Indian authorities are banning the political parties that represent the true aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Today, the total number of outlawed Kashmiri parties comes to 14. This is a clear violation of the Kashmiri people’s democratic rights. The office of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar remains sealed for more than a year. The Srinagar Press Club was also shut down in 2022.

The Indian authoritiescontinue to prohibit congregations at Srinagar’s historic Jamia Mosque on one pretext or another. Recently, the local people were not allowed to congregate on Eid-ul-Fitr, Jumaa-tul-Wida’aand Laila-tul-Qadr. The prayer leader at the Mosque and renowned Kashmiri leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is also placed under house arrest, frequently.

In a despicable act in Pulwama district in June 2023, the Indian Army personnel entered a mosque, interrupted the call for prayer, and forced the villagers to chant Hindu supremacist slogans like Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Ram).

In another condemnable act of custodial killing, three Kashmiri men died while five others had to be hospitalized after facing severe torture at an Indian Army camp in Poonch district. The video clips of their torture also went viral on social media during last week of December 2023.

The human rights abuses in IIOJK are well-documented by human rights organizationsand international bodies, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights andthe Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Since 5 August 2019, 859 Kashmiris have been killed, and 2,399 injured. More than 23,000 Kashmiris have been arrested arbitrarily, from time to time, during the last four years and a half.

Mr. Chairman,

History bears witness that India’s occupation of the large parts of Jammu and Kashmir has threatened regional peace and stability on a number of occasions.  Indian leaders have also been making belligerent statements about the territories of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan for some years. As India’s national elections are being heldin different phases, we have noticed a surge in different Indian leaders’ unwarranted claims about these territories.

While Pakistan is acting in a responsible manner and upholding the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian leaders’ provocative statements constitute a threat to regional peace.  The international community, especially the members of this Contact Group, should take cognizance of such irresponsible statements, which are also contrary to the UN Charter.

It could hardly be overemphasized that, for a durable peace in South Asia, the Jammu and Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

Mr. Chairman,

In view of the challenges being faced by the Kashmiri people, Pakistan calls upon the international community to use its influence to convince India to:

• revoke its unilateral and illegal actions of 5 August 2019 and the subsequent steps, aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the IIOJK;
• halt the ongoing human rights violations in IIOJK;
• release, immediately, the political prisoners, human rights defenders, and dissenters, including Mr. Yaseen Malik, for whom death penalty has been sought;
• provide solemn assurances that it will not change the occupied territory’s demographic composition and not allow non-Kashmiris to acquire voting rights, property or residency in Jammu and Kashmir;
• repeal its draconian emergency laws, and withdraw its heavy military presence from Kashmiri cities, towns and villages;
• provide unhindered access to UN OHCHR, OIC, human rights organizations and international media to investigate and report on the situation in IIOJK; and

• implement fully the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and allow the Kashmiri people to freely exercise their right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite.

I thank you all!