Pakistan has rejected the Indian external affairs ministry’s spokesperson statement related to an invitation extended by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the Kashmiri leadership for the summit to be held in Islamabad on March 22 and 23.

“India has no locus standi to claim the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as its ‘internal matter’. Numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute declare that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people to be expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Pakistan is set to host the 48th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on March 22 and 23, 2022.

The FO added that India’s repeated assertions to the contrary cannot “obfuscate the reality” of its occupation and “repression” in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

It was of the view that the universal realisation of the right of peoples to self-determination was a principle enshrined in the UN Charter. UNSC and OIC have recognised such a right for the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have been subjugated to illegal Indian occupation since 1947, the statement read.

Accordingly, the OIC has supported the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination and has traditionally invited the Kashmiri leadership to attend the OIC meetings. Such concern was also highlighted by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in his press conference on March 15.

Pakistan called upon India not to “create hurdles” in the participation of the “true representatives” of the Kashmiri people in the OIC summit.

“Instead of questioning OIC’s principled stance for the dignity and liberty of the oppressed Kashmiri people, India should reflect inwards and end its repression and widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in IIOJK, and let the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council,” it read.

Moreover, Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the UN had also raised the Kashmir issue during the UN session and demanded of India to end its alleged state terrorism against Pakistan, Kashmiris, and its minorities.

"India must implement UNSC resolutions [in IIOJK]. Its refusal to do so for seven decades constitutes a flagrant and continuing violation of the Security Council resolutions and of the UN Charter," Counselor Saima Saleem had said in her address.