ISLAMABAD: Assistant Secretary General of OIC and Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir Ambassador Yousef Mohammad S. Aldobeay on Monday expressed full support for Kashmiris’ inherent right to self-determination.

Aldobeay, who was leading a delegation which met AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry here, said the OIC has condemned brutalities being perpetrated against the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir in the past and it will continue to raise voice for their internationally recognised right in the days ahead in an effective manner.

Speaking on the occasion, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said that the OIC and its member countries should join forces and play their muchneeded role in helping resolve the longstanding Kashmir and Palestine issues.

He expressed these views during a meeting with the OIC delegation.

Referring to India’s relentless repression of political and human rights in Kashmir, he stressed the need for intensifying efforts to resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute peacefully in accordance with the UNSC resolutions.

He said that there was a dire need that the Muslim countries use their diplomatic, economic and political clout to stop the bloodbath of the Kashmiri and Palestinian people who have suffered more than 70 years under brutal foreign occupation.

Barrister Chaudhry commended the OIC’s steadfast support to Kashmiris’ just cause, stating that the Muslim body has always supported Kashmiris’ struggle.

Terming India and Israel two sides of the same coin, he said the fascist regimes have been engaged in systematic genocide of Palestinian and Kashmiri people.

India’s relentless repression of political and human rights in Kashmir, he said, involved killing and maiming Kashmiris through heavy militarisation, arbitrary arrests and detention of political activists.

Kashmir, he said, has been turned into an open air prison where people have been deprived of all their basic rights and essential freedoms.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2025