Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) : The Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the OIC organized a ‘Special Event and Photo Exhibition’ on the occasion of Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir (Day of Exploitation of Kashmir) at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah. The OIC Secretary General, H.E. Hissein Brahim Taha graced the event as the ‘Chief Guest’. Consul General of Pakistan in Jeddah H. E Khalid Majid, senior officers of the OIC General Secretariat, Permanent Representatives of the OIC Member States, diplomats and officials from the diplomatic corps in Jeddah, media persons, members of Kashmir Committee Jeddah, and a large number of people from Pakistani and Kashmiri diaspora attended the event. Additional Foreign Secretary (International Organizations) Ambassador Haider Shah also participated as a “Special Guest”.
In his opening address, Ambassador Fawad Sher, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the OIC, thanked the OIC Secretary General for his presence and continued staunch support for the Kashmir cause. The Ambassador lamented that five years have passed since India’s illegal actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on 5th August 2019 that stripped the Kashmiris of their special status despite Jammu and Kashmir’s internationally recognized disputed status. He stated that following 5th August 2019, India intensified its reign of terror in the occupied territory which has resulted in the martyrdom of over 1000 Kashmiris in the last five years. However, he stressed that the vicious Indian campaign to bring about demographic changes in IIOJK aimed at converting the Muslim majority there into a disempowered minority has been exposed. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s firm and unwavering political, moral, and diplomatic support for the just struggle of the Kashmiris for their right of self-determination as enshrined in the UN Charter and the relevant OIC and UN Security Council Resolutions.
Ambassador Fawad Sher noted that in the backdrop of the war in Gaza where innocent Palestinians were braving the worst forms of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the hands of the Israeli occupation force, Youm-e-Istehsal carried two-fold pain and agony. He appreciated the OIC for its long-standing principled position on Jammu and Kashmir and called on the OIC to redouble its efforts to project the voice of the Kashmiris. He also appreciated OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) role in highlighting Kashmiris plight through its Standing Mechanism and publications of two special reports.
In his keynote address, Secretary-General OIC H.E. Hissein Brahim Taha reaffirmed the OIC’s categorical and unequivocal support for the Kashmir cause and stressed that the OIC, through its various mechanisms including the OIC Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir and the IPHRC’s Standing Mechanism to monitor the human rights situation in the IIOJK, would continue to project the Kashmir cause and hold India accountable for its usurpation of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. The Secretary-General also inaugurated the ‘Photo Exhibition’ depicting the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by the Indian occupation forces in IIOJK.
The Consul General of Pakistan in Jeddah, H.E. Khalid Majid, also spoke on the occasion. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s unequivocal support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle against the Indian tyranny and hoped that the international community would take due cognizance of the dire situation in the IIOJK.
