OIC consistently supported Pakistan on Kashmir — FO

In this file photo, foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation OIC meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sept. 15, 2019. The Pakistan foreign office on Thursday commended the consistent support by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. (AFP)

• Says work underway to convene special ministerial meeting of OIC on Kashmir issue in Islamabad
• 2019 will be remembered as year of Pakistan’s enhanced relations with Saudi and UAE, spokesperson says

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan foreign office on Thursday commended the consistent support by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The OIC has consistently supported Pakistan on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Recently, the OIC’s independent permanent Human Rights Commission held an unprecedented public session on the human rights situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK) and came up with a very strong statement on the situation in the IOK,” Foreign office spokesperson, Aisha Farooqui, said during the weekly press briefing in Islamabad.
The two meetings of the OIC contact group were held in the immediate aftermath of the Indian action of August 5 whereby New Delhi revoked the special constitutional state of the disputed territory annexing it with India and placing the valley under heavy security lock-down.
Foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other Islamic countries participated in these meetings.
Farooqui said that work was underway to convene a special ministerial level meeting of OIC on Kashmir issue in Islamabad.
“We are working on all the mechanisms under OIC to highlight the situation that continues to deteriorate in Kashmir,” she said, adding that the 47th regular session of the council of foreign minister of OIC is scheduled in Niger in April 2020 and Pakistan has already offered to hold the 48th regular session in Islamabad in 2021.
Talking about Pakistan’s foreign policy achievements in the year 2019, the spokesperson said that the year will be remembered as Pakistan’s enhanced relations with Middle Eastern countries especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “The year 2019 was marked as Pakistan’s enhanced relations and engagements with high profile visits especially with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and China.”
On the visit of UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, she said the leadership of both the countries has shared vision to improve the entire spectrum of bilateral relations.
“UAE is a brotherly country and our relationship goes back many decades which are both wide and deep and encompass an entire gambit of bilateral relations.”