ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries (PUIC) has passed a resolution on Kashmir, calling for a reversal of India’s revocation of the semi-autonomous status of the region in August 2019, as well as an end to human rights violations there.
In 2019, the government of the radical Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke up Jammu and Kashmir region into two federal territories, as part of a sweeping move to tighten its grip over the disputed region.
The Himalayan state comprises the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley which is the bone of contention between Pakistan and India, the Hindu-dominated Jammu region and the remote, high-altitude Buddhist enclave of Ladakh.
The resolution, presented by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Zahid Akram Durrani, at a session of the forum in Algiers, urges the international community to take note of the situation in the region and calls for the resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with UN resolutions.
The resolution will be taken up at the main conference’s final session and, if approved, will be included in the conference’s final communiqué.
Kashmir Valley is one of the world’s most militarised regions, where pro-freedom groups have waged a decades-long war against Indian occupation, killing tens of thousands of people.
It has long been one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints. Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India both claim Kashmir in full but rule in part, and have fought two of their three wars over the region.
In February 2019, the rivals nearly went to war again, after a suicide attack in occupied Kashmir killed 40 paramilitary troopers. India sent warplanes into Pakistan, which then mounted a counter-attack, and an Indian pilot was shot down and captured in the ensuing skirmish.
China and India also contest an ill-defined border in the Ladakh region, where troops from both sides have frequently confronted each other.
In 1962, India lost a short but bloody war with China, fought in Ladakh and eastern Arunachal Pradesh state. Arunachal Pradesh remains in India’s control, while China administers a large area adjacent to Ladakh called Aksai Chin.
— With Reuters
