OIC terms India’s delimitation exercise in Kashmir violation of international law

Picture source- AFP

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned India’s delimitation exercise in occupied Kashmir.

The Independent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the body on Friday said that the Indian step of delimitation of the electoral constituency in occupied Kashmir was against the resolution of United Nations Security Council.

Earlier, New Delhi, ahead of fresh elections, issued a new list of constituencies that are being redrawn. According to those lists, for fresh elections, the Muslim Majority Kashmir Valley got 47 seats and Jammu got 43. The Jammu region earlier used to have 37 seats and Kashmir Valley, with a majority Muslim population, had 46 seats.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in 2019 revoked the special states of the region and divided the occupied territory into two regions.

OIC in a statement has termed this move as a violation of the international human rights laws.

The statement released by the OIC said that IPHRC supported the unanimous rejection of the Kashmiri political leadership of these illegal measures. It added that such steps were a representation of the continuum of ‘Hindutva’ inspired illegal steps.

The body also called this move a ‘wicked’ attempt to alter the electoral demographics and dynamics so they [New Delhi] could influence electoral results and put in place their puppet regimes.

It also called on the UN and international community to pressurize India to follow the relevant UNSC and OIC resolutions and stop these tactics to change the geography and demography of the occupied territory.

On the other hand, the Foreign Ministry handed over a demarche to the Indian charge d’affaires and said that Pakistan rejected this move. It also asked India to stop its oppression in Kashmir and let the people of Kashmir decide their own future through a free and fair plebiscite under the UN.