UNITED NATIONS, June 7: Expressing grave concern over the gravity of situation on the India-Pakistan border, the Organization of Islamic Conference called on Wednesday for the international monitoring of the Line of Control so that an environment conducive to the attainment of peace may be created.

At a meeting convened on Pakistan’s request, the Chairman of the OIC Group at the UN, Cheickna Keita of Mali, reiterated the Islamic group’s solidarity with Pakistan in its hour of need.

Briefing the 57-member OIC, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram said the international community “cannot close its eyes, specially when the possibility of an Indian attack on Pakistan is very strong,” even if by accident or misunderstanding of the latter’s intentions, resulting in pre-emptive aerial strikes.

He pointed out that the “UN has threefold responsibility in intervening in the crisis: first, the Security Council’s automatic responsibility in regard to threats to peace; second, the Security Council’s specific resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, including resolution 1172 of 1998, operative paragraph 5, whose implementation the Council should seek; and third, the right, indeed duty, of the Security Council under article 49 of the United Nations Charter which calls for action on the implementation of measures decided upon by the Security Council.”

Saying that one or two members of the UN Security Council have resisted involving the council in the crisis, Akram called upon the OIC member states to stand now with Pakistan in this “hour of peril,” and to extend their good offices in persuading others, including the members of the Security Council, to do so.

He proposed that first, the international community should monitor the LoC in order to confirm no hostile or improper activity was taking place; second, India should be prevailed upon to de-escalate its military activity on its border with Pakistan, and on the LoC, returning to their peacetime positions, and third, India should work with Pakistan in exploring avenues of lasting peace in the region; in that process there should be a halt in the persecution of the Kashmiri people, concurrent with the easing of the use of militancy by the Kashmiri people and transition to a process involving India.

He said Pakistan, too, is working at the bilateral level in its attempt to seek and tap any, and every, legitimate avenue that would, judiciously, help to foster peace.

Pakistan’s chief delegate observed that “after the events of Sept 11, 2001, India has sought to take undue advantage of the opportunity to portray the Kashmir liberation struggle as terrorism, and to delegitimize the struggle, disregarding the fact that the right of self-determination is a crucial principle of the UN Charter, as is also the people’s right to defend themselves, including by armed resistance. This is true of liberation struggles everywhere, including Palestine.”

OIC Chairman Keita told Pakistan that the Islamic group will remain seized of the matter and explore various means of finding a solution, including the convening of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir and regular briefings of representatives of OIC member states in the Security Council.