Islamabad (HRNW) Pakistan on Thursday strongly rejected a recent statement by the Indian External Affairs Ministry in which New Delhi had objected to the visit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
During her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Thursday said that the remarks by India’s MEA reflect “callousness and disregard” towards inter-state relations and are against the concept of mutual respect.“
India’s MEA had called the OIC secretary general a “mouthpiece of Pakistan” for Taha’s remarks following the visit of the Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Last week. the OIC Secretary-General Taha had visited the Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and met with victims of cross-border shelling who shared with him the details of their sufferings.
The FO spokesperson said the visit carried special significance as it came three years after India’s illegal and unilateral actions in IIOJK to annex it.
Now, the OIC secretary-general will share his findings at the next OIC Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
“The Secretary-General reaffirmed OIC’s commitment and solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and to their right to self-determination in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” she added.
“The international community should join hands to bring an end to the suppression of the people of IIOJK and the violations of their human rights,” Baloch said.
The FO spokesperson further said that India’s hegemonic designs included terrorist activities inside Pakistan, referring to the recent disclosures made by Punjab Police Counter Terrorism Department while investigating the 2021 Johar Town car bomb attack that was aimed at former Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) supremo.
She added that the unabated hostilities carried out by Indian forces in the Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), had held peace in South Asia hostage.