RIYADH – The 16th extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of ForeignMinisters (CFM) was held Sunday at the OIC Secretariat in Jeddah to discussthe announcement by the Israeli prime minister of his intention to annexterritories in the occupied West Bank in the event of winning Israelielections.
The meeting was called by the OIC Secretariat on the request of SaudiArabia as Chair of the 14th Islamic Summit.
Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmoodled the Pakistan delegation in the extraordinary meeting, which was chairedby Saudi Foreign Minister Dr Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, said a pressrelease received here.
In his statement, Minister Shafqat Mehmood said the unilateralannouncement, in violation of the relevant UNSC resolutions and principlesof the international law, was a dangerous trend and threat to internationalpeace and security.
He also expressed that it would further complicate the already tensesituation and destabilize the region.He appealed to the OIC members, the United Nations and the internationalcommunity to revive their obligation towards the people of Palestine and AlQuds Al-Sharif.
He added the UN and the OIC members should condemn such irresponsibleannouncements, being used as party slogans in the election campaign, whichcould jeopardize peace in the region.
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He also drew attention to the unfolding sufferings of the Kashmiri peoplein the past seven weeks at the hands of another occupying power.
He told the meeting that the people of Palestine and Kashmir had manythings in common with both sharing a history of over seven decades ofoccupation and their right to self-determination, protected underinternational law, continued to be trampled upon.
Both of them have been subjected to collective punishment, state-sanctionedterror, and unspeakable suffering. Their struggle for legitimate rights hasbeen deliberately targeted as “terrorism” to divert the world’s attentionfrom the repression of Israel and India. Their fundamental rights andfreedoms have been clamped down, he added.
The minister said that the people of Kashmir had been locked into a giantprison since August 5, 2019, with their telephones and communicationscut-off, their children have been abducted from their homes in the middleof nights and subjected to torture, their political leaders arrested andimprisoned, and their access to health services and life-saving drugscurtailed.
