By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: All India Muslim Unity Front staged a demonstration in New Delhi today to protest the move of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to appoint a special envoy in Jammu and Kashmir. While terming the move as “blatant interference in the internal affairs of India”, the Front condemned OIC and suggested it “to take care of Muslims in other parts of the world like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where they are in worse condition.”
The protestors were shouting slogans against OIC and reiterating that Kashmir is an integral part of India. “Down with OIC,” “Stop meddling in the internal affairs of India” and “Kashmir is our integral part” were some of the slogans. They were holding placards with anti-OIC slogans.
Talking to TwoCircles.net Muhammad Yunus Siddiqi, president, All India Muslim Minority Front, said “OIC was established for welfare of Muslims. Besides India, Muslims are facing problems in other countries also like Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine. They are also facing problems in Europe. OIC should take care of Muslims in those places. Muslims in India are living peacefully.”
“Kashmir is our issue. OIC must not take interest in it. Kashmir is an integral part of India,” said Siddiqi. He said he has appealed to OIC to take care of Muslim refugees in Palestine, Afghanistan and Lebanon. They should ask for withdrawal of foreign armies from Iraq.
Addressing the gathering Subhash Chowdhary, chairman, Non-Aligned Students and Youth Movement (NASYM), co-organizer of the demonstration, accused OIC for adopting double standards while raking up the Kashmir issue time and again. “Why is OIC silent on the decades old repression of the great Baloch people by the Pakistan army and their demand for an independent sovereign state?” he asked.
The NASYM chairman said if OIC was “so concerned about the oppression of different Muslim groups, what role it has played to mitigate the oppression of the Kurd people. The parameter of oppressions can only be gauged by the influx of refugees. The OIC must tell the world what it has done for millions of Palestinian people who have become stateless and live life of a refugee in several countries. Millions of Kurd people, Afghans and also Iraqi people are refugees in several nations but Kashmir does not have any such problem.”