OIC supports Kashmir's right to self determination

Astana (Kazakhstan), Oct 17 (IANS) The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Friday said it supports the right to self-determination in Kashmir in accordance with the UN resolution to solve the 60-year-old dispute between India and Pakistan.

'OIC endorses a 1948 UN resolution mandating a plebiscite in Kashmir,' OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on a dialogue between Islam and the western world in this capital city of Kazakhstan.

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Denouncing the acts of violence in Kashmir, he said the 'OIC condemns terrorism in any form in any part of the world'.

Stressing that the Kashmir issue needed to be solved as per the wishes of the people, the OIC leader said a settlement should be acceptable to all parties - Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris. This, he added, would result in durable peace in South Asia.

'We support the dialogue process that was started between the then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf and Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee and advocate settlement of conflicts through peaceful means,' said the OIC secretary general.

He said terrorism was a phenomenon in the world and couldn't be attributed to any particular religion or region.