MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to establish a humanitarian corridor to aid the people of Indian-administered Kashmir, Pakistani media reported on Saturday.
Khan made the appeal while talking to a 12-member delegation of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the OIC that is visiting Azad Kashmir from August 4-8. The OIC-IPHRC delegation includes diplomats and representatives from the United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Nigeria, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Gabon, Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco.
IPHRC Executive Director Marghoob Saleem Butt and prominent Pakistani diplomat Tasneem Aslam were also present during the meeting with the AJK president.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 with both claiming the territory in full. Fighting in the Indian-controlled part has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.
“The AJK President thanked the OIC for its courageous and steadfast support for the right to self determination of the Kashmiri people,” Dawn reported. “He also expressed his deep gratitude to the commission for publishing a comprehensive and seminal report in March 2017 on the human rights situation.”
Khan said in the light of recommendations made in the IPHRC’s last report, the Muslim world, particularly member states of the OIC, should raise their voice against rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir and “consider sanctions against India.”
He also demanded immediate steps by the OIC to provide emergency assistance “to the besieged Kashmiris by establishing humanitarian corridors and provide scholarships to Kashmiri students studying either in any part of their state or elsewhere in the world so that they could continue their education,” Dawn reported.
The president informed the delegation that at present there were around 42,000 refugees from across the divide in AJK, with a majority residing in or on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad.