ISLAMABAD: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), on Wednesday, once again urged India to withdraw all the so-called illegal and unilateral actions that it has taken on or after 5 August 2019 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and to stop the rampant human rights violations in the territory.
The statement was read at an event and photo exhibition held by the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by OIC Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and Al-Quds Affairs, Samir Bakr, on behalf of Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha.
The meeting was convened to highlight the “gross human rights violations in IIOJK” and to reiterate the support of the 57-member bloc with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Secretary-General Taha emphasized the need for good dialogue and interaction among all the parties and constructive international intervention to end the protracted conflict.
He remembered that the OIC had already called upon India to reverse its August 2019 decisions and stop what it termed as gross, systematic, and widespread human rights violations in the region during the 49th session of the
Council of Foreign Ministers held in March in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
On 5 August 2019, the Hindu nationalist government of India removed the constitutional provision of Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir autonomous status. The area was then partitioned into two Union Territories, namely Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, to be directly ruled by New Delhi via centrally appointed officials.
Before this action, Jammu and Kashmir had its constitution, state flag, and a two-house legislature, and the authority to make its laws. The Indian government also abolished Article 35A, which granted the local government the power to determine permanent residents and bar outsiders from purchasing land or seeking employment in the government.
The abrogation of these provisions in the constitution has given rise to concerns that the demographic balance in the Muslim-majority region, which has a population of more than 12 million, of which approximately 28 per cent are Hindu, might be changed through an influx of non-local settlers.
The Indian government has justified its move as a sovereign decision made by the parliament, and that special status had created separatism and economic backwardness.
The Supreme Court of India is now examining the government’s decision on the legality of the move and has been hearing several petitions against the abrogation of the special status of the region.
A massive crackdown was witnessed in the run-up to the announcement in August 2019. Hundreds of political leaders and activists pro-India and pro-independence were arrested. The media was also restricted, and the region has gone more than five years without an elected government.
