Islamabad, March 18, 2022 (PPI-OT): Pakistan has strongly rejected India’s baseless objection to the invitation extended by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to the Kashmiri Hurriyat leadership for the 48th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Foreign Office Spokesperson, Asim Iftikhar, in a statement said the 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 its meetings. He called upon India not to create hurdles in the participation of the true representatives of the Kashmiri people in the OIC meeting.

Asim Iftikhar said instead of questioning OIC’s principled stance for the dignity and liberty of the oppressed Kashmiri people, India should reflect inwards and end its repression and widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and let the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.

The Spokesperson said India has no locus stand to claim the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as its internal matter. He said numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 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 under the auspices of the United Nations. The Spokesperson said India’s repeated assertions to the contrary cannot obfuscate the reality of its illegal occupation and repression in the occupied territory.

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