The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir met in New York on October 1st and 2nd, 1996, and also at a meeting earlier in Islamabad, August 13th, 1996, unanimously reaffirmed its commitment to all the resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir dispute adopted by the OIC's Summit and Ministerial meetings as well as the Special Declaration by the 7th Islamic Summit Conference in Casablanca.

The New York meeting was presided over by Niger's representative and Islamabad's meeting was opened by Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; Turkey's Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan was also present.

Both the meetings were addressed by the Chairman of the Contact Group Mr. Lamine Camara, and the Secretary-General of the OIC, Dr. Hamid Algabid.

Foreign Ministers and representatives of Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey attended the meetings. The representative of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) also addressed the Contact Group and handed over a memorandum on the situation in Kashmir.

The OIC reviewed the deteriorating situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and its implications for regional peace and security. Expressing its concern over the staging of fraudulent elections for the Lok Sabha [Indian Parliament's Lower House] and a gunpoint election for so-called Legislature Assembly in IOK, both the elections were rejected by the people of Kashmir and their leadership, the APHC, as well as by the OIC. The Contact Group is deeply alarmed by the subsequent sharp intensification of Indian repression against the Kashmiri people, especially the induction of additional troops, the use of renegades mercenaries, armed, financed and trained by India for terrorising and intimidating the Kashmiri people and their leadership.

The Contact Group regretted that the Government of India has vitiated the atmosphere for the commencement of a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan for seeking a peaceful solution to the dispute; also, recalling the relevant UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir which remain unimplemented; and the OIC reaffirmed its solidarity with the suffering people of IOK.

Following are some of the resolutions:

·Reaffirms the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to self-determination in accordance with the relevant United Nations Resolutions.

·Rejects India's efforts to maintain its illegal occupation of Kashmir through holding of sham elections and by initiating a fraudulent political process.

·Appeals for the immediate and safe release of all the hostages by the "Al-Faran."

·Calls upon the Government of India to respect the human rights of the Kashmiri people, rescind forthwith all repressive measures and endeavour to improve the situation in Kashmir.

The APHC urged the OIC Contact Group to appeal to all peace-loving people and nations of the world to help and support the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their struggle for the realisation of their right to self-determination promised to them under the UN Security Council resolutions.