Pakistan rejects Indian objection on OIC’s invitation to Kashmiri leadership

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly rejected the baseless objection raised by India over the invitation extended by OIC to the Kashmiri leadership for the 48th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the forum, which is scheduled to be held on Monday in Islamabad.

In a press release Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson said India has no locus standi to claim the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as its internal matter.

He said numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute declare that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people to be expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations.

He said India’s repeated assertions to the contrary cannot obfuscate the reality of its illegal occupation and repression in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokesperson said the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination is a principle enshrined in the UN Charter. He said UNSC and OIC have recognized this right for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have been subjugated to illegal Indian occupation since 1947.

Accordingly, OIC has consistently supported the just struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination and has traditionally invited the Kashmiri leadership to attend the OIC meetings.

The spokesperson called upon India not to create hurdles in the participation of the true representatives of the Kashmiri people in the 48th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Pakistan.