India Questions Islamic Group’s Role In Raising Kashmir At UN
NEW YORK, NY-India has levelled a diplomatically worded criticism of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for raising the Kashmir issue, questioning its locus standi in the matter.
“Cross-regional groups that are neither bound by geography nor common issues, with no direct linkage to international peace and security, may not get involved in disputes and conflicts,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador P. Harish, said on July 23.
“Such groupings lack domain expertise and regional knowledge that are critical to resolution of disputes,” he said.
Although Harish did not name the OIC, his remarks were clearly directed at the grouping, which has raised the Kashmir issue at several levels within the organization, most recently through a statement by its General Secretariat last October.
Harish made the remarks while speaking at the UN Security Council Open Debate on “Strengthening the Mechanisms for Peaceful Settlement of Disputes” after Pakistan again raised the Kashmir issue.
While “established regional and sub-regional organizations could play an enabling role in resolving disputes and conflicts” and “could complement the functions of the UN”, he said, “cross-regional groups” do not fit that role.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, had asserted that the “Kashmir dispute” was “the core issue bedeviling peace and stability in South Asia.”
In its October statement, the OIC General Secretariat recalled declarations by the organization’s Islamic Summit and Council of Foreign Ministers and said it “reiterates its full solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their legitimate quest for the right to self-determination.”
It also called for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir.
However, the main UN Security Council resolution on Kashmir, adopted in 1948, called on Pakistan to withdraw its troops and citizens from the areas of Kashmir under its control and stop supporting those fighting there.
India has maintained that Pakistan has complied with neither requirement and has continued to support cross-border terrorism. (IANS)
