NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday condemned the visit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary general to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and his comments on the disputed region during his visit to Pakistan.
Hissein Brahim Taha, along with a delegation, visited parts of the mountainous region on Sunday.
In a statement, Arindam Bagchi, spokesman of India’s Foreign Ministry, said: “We strongly condemn the visit of OIC secretary general to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and his comments on J&K during his visit to Pakistan.”
“Let me reiterate that OIC has no locus standi in matters related to J&K, which is an integral and inalienable part of India. Any attempt of interference and meddling in India’s internal affairs by OIC and its secretary general is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Stating that “OIC has already lost its credibility by taking a blatantly communal, partisan and factually incorrect approach,” the spokesman said: “Its secretary-general has unfortunately become a mouthpiece of Pakistan.”
The visiting secretary general and the delegation paid respect and offered prayer in “memory of people who sacrificed their lives for the Kashmir cause,” a Foreign Office statement had said after the visit.
The delegation also visited the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir valley between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India.
The delegation also met and interacted with the Kashmiri migrants and residents of the bordering areas.
Addressing a joint press conference with the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Islamabad, Taha had said that resolution of the long-smouldering dispute is crucial to regional peace and in the better interest of the two neighbours.
Reiterating the OIC’s commitment to the resolution of the dispute, Taha also said his visit is part of efforts to sensitise the international community and the member states on the ongoing situation in the Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Disputed region
Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars — in 1948, 1965, and 1971 — two of them over Kashmir.
According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict since 1989.
Already frosty relations between the two countries plummeted to a new low after August 2019, when India scrapped the longstanding special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The two neighbours, however, last year, agreed to honour the 2003 cease-fire along the LoC followed by an exchange of letters between the two premiers and unconfirmed reports of “backdoor” contacts to stem the escalating tensions.
Islamabad, nonetheless, reiterates that the normalisation of ties with New Delhi is linked to the review of the August 5 decision, and the ultimate resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
