New York Meeting Deplores Indian Atrocities in Kashmir
Kashmiri leaders meet in New York. Dr Ghulam Fai is in center
New York. “The phenomenon of unstopped and unpunished barbarities is being witnessed in Kashmir. The irony is that the impunity that is thus being granted to the violator of human rights is not in the context of a new dispute. It is being allowed to arise and to persist in a territory which, under international law, is not part of any member state of the United Nations and whose status is yet to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under supervision and control of the United Nations,” said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American Council/Kashmir Center while speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) held September 24 at the United Nations headquarters.
The OIC has 57 member countries. Dr. Hamrokhon Zariff, Foreign Minister of Tajikistan, chaired the Meeting. The OIC Secretary General and the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations attended the Meeting. The Kashmiri delegation included: Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, the Prime Minister Azad Kashmir; Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Mr. Masood-ur-Rehman, and Mr. Abdul Hameed Shaheen.
The CFM reiterated the need for a peaceful and negotiated settlement of all conflicts in the Islamic world and reaffirmed its principled support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realization of their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
The CFM expressed concern at the recent and ongoing indiscriminate use of force and gross violations of human rights committed in Indian Occupied Kashmir by Indian security forces which have resulted in killing of scores of innocent and unarmed civilians as well as injuries to hundreds of others including women, children and elderly. The OIC emphasized the need for full respect of human rights as well as importance of taking all requisite steps to provide relief and comfort to the Kashmiris. It further called upon India to allow international human rights groups and humanitarian organizations to visit Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir condemned the continual arrests and detentions of the Kashmiri leadership and called upon the Government of India to release all political prisoners, including Kashmiri leaders, without delay. It urged India to put an end to the suffering of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by repealing all laws that violate the basic freedoms and human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
