UNITED NATION: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the resolution of the decades-old Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions that call for the exercise of right of self-determination by the Kashmiri people.
“The issue of Kashmir should be resolved on the basis of resolutions of the UN for the best for our brothers and sisters in Kashmir through dialogue,” Erdogan said in an address to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, stressing that the preservation of peace and stability in South Asia to be of utmost importance.
“We are pleased with the ceasefire achieved following the tensions last April between Pakistan and India, the tension which had escalated into a conflict,” Erdogan said, referring to the four-day war. “It is important to see a cooperation between the two countries when it comes to counter terrorism,” he added.
He said dialogue is the only way forward to resolve the issue stressing that the preservation of peace and stability in South Asia to be of utmost importance.
The Contact Group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting reviewed the political and security situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and examined the deteriorating human rights conditions in the occupied territory.
Chaired by the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs of the OIC, Mr Yousef M Al-Dobeay, the meeting was attended by the member states of the Contact Group i.e. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Niger and Azerbaijan. A delegation of the True Representatives of the Kashmiri People was also in attendance.
Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, thanked the OIC and its Member States for their steadfast support to the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination. He condemned India’s attempts to entrench its illegal occupation through draconian laws, repression, and demographic changes, noting intensified human rights abuses and arbitrary detentions since August 2019. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to peace, stressing that lasting stability in South Asia depends on resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through genuine dialogue.
The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister urged the OIC to press India to end repression, free political prisoners, repeal draconian laws, and allow Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination under UN Security Council resolutions.
