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India rejects OIC Kashmir references, hits back at Pakistan (Img: MEA)
New Delhi: Calling them “unwarranted and factually incorrect”, India hit back at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over references to Jammu and Kashmir in a joint communique issued by its Contact Group.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the OIC had no locus standi to comment on matters that were strictly internal to India. The response came after Pakistan said its Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar addressed an OIC Contact Group ministerial meeting on Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.
Pakistan said Dar urged OIC member states to maintain a “unified position” on Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations and other international forums. He also reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to a “just and peaceful settlement of the dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people”.
India rejected the references in the joint communique.
“India categorically rejects the unwarranted and factually incorrect references to India in the Joint Communique of the so-called OIC Contact Group on Jammu & Kashmir. The OIC has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are strictly internal to India,” the MEA said.
The ministry also reiterated its position on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, saying both Union Territories are an “integral and inalienable part of India”.
It added that “no amount of repetition of politically motivated propaganda can change this reality”.
India also questioned the credibility of the OIC over what it described as repeated support for politically motivated narratives.
“Repeated endorsement of such motivated narratives only raises serious questions on the credibility of OIC,” the MEA said.
New Delhi further turned its criticism towards Pakistan, urging the OIC to focus on terrorism rather than providing Islamabad with a platform for what India described as “fabricated and motivated propaganda”.
“Instead of offering a platform to Pakistan to peddle its fabricated and motivated propaganda, OIC will be better advised to counsel Pakistan, which has a well-documented record of supporting and sponsoring terrorism, to look inwards and address the continuing threat of terrorism emanating from territories under its control,” the MEA said.
