OIC’s freshness

OIC’s freshness

Dr. Jassim Taqui

At last, we have witnessed“freshness,” in the otherwise dormant OIC. Suddenly, the Secretary General of OIC Iyad Amin Madani lands in Islamabad to hold talks with the Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz on the massive Indian abuse of the human rights of the people of Indian Occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, the OIC was indifferent, terming J&K a forbidden taboo.

The second surprise is the pronouncement of Madani that J&K is not an Indian issue but an international one. Madani went further by demanding a resolution of the issue on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions that call for holding a plebiscite in Kashmir to enable its people the right of self-determination.

A third surprise is the decision of OIC to revive the OIC’s Contact Group on Kashmir. The Group will meet in September on the margin of the General Assembly session in New York.

This policy of the OIC indicates that the crisis between Pakistan and GCC countries is amicably resolved. Most probably, the crisis is resolved by the statement of COAS Gen. Raheel Sharif that Pakistan is committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, the OIC felt that it should activate itself following the statement of the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon on the issue. Moon offered a mediation role. He stated that he was ready to facilitate a dialogue between India and Pakistan over Kashmir to achieve a negotiated settlement to the issue.