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India warns OIC against use by ‘vested interests’ after Muslim nation group’s Kashmir remarks

MEA weighs in on meeting between Indian diplomat Ausaf Sayeed and OIC Secretary-General, says it was held to ‘correct some misperceptions about India’.

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New Delhi: India Thursday cautioned the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against being used by “vested interests” — a veiled dig at Pakistan — as it weighed in on the Jeddah-based body’s remarks this week on Kashmir and New Delhi’s relationship with Islamabad.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also rejected the OIC’s proposal to facilitate talks between New Delhi and Islamabad. 

The MEA’s remarks follow a statement issued by the OIC after a meeting on 5 July between its Secretary-General Yousef Al-Othaimeen and Ausaf Sayeed, Ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia. 

According to the statement, the OIC secretary-general “reviewed” with Sayeed “a number of issues concerning the situation of Muslims in India, along with the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and relevant UN and OIC resolutions opposing any unilateral actions on the issue”. 

Al-Othaimeen, the statement said, told Sayeed about the OIC’s “desire” to send a delegation to Kashmir, and asked him “about the possibility of a meeting between Pakistan and India”. The General Secretariat of the OIC, the statement said, “stands ready to assist if the two parties would so request”. 

Referring to the meeting, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that the interaction “was held in response to an earlier request made by the OIC secretary-general to meet our ambassador”. 

“During the meeting, a wide range of issues were discussed. Our ambassador conveyed the need to correct some of the misperceptions about India that are perpetrated by vested interests in the OIC,” he added. 

The OIC, he said, should be “watchful that their platform is not subverted by these vested interests for comments on internal affairs of India or for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions”.

After the secretary-general’s meeting with Sayeed, Pakistan said the OIC had conveyed the organisation’s concerns on Kashmir to India. “India has consistently ignored OIC resolutions and evaded its responsibility of protecting the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people. This is the first time that the principled position of the 57 OIC member states has been duly conveyed to India,” it added.

Established in 1969, the OIC was conceptualised as a congregation of Muslim countries. Its 57 members include Pakistan, Turkey, the UAE, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

India is not a member of the OIC, but was invited as a ‘Guest of Honour’ at its plenary in 2019. It was attended by then Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

While the OIC has been issuing statements on the Kashmir dispute, pushed by Pakistan, India’s stance has always been that it has no locus standi on the matter.


Also Read: Sushma Swaraj takes OIC stage 50 years after India’s big diplomatic embarrassment there


‘Pakistan’s allegations against India baseless’

Responding to a question about Pakistan blaming India for the 23 June blast near the residence of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Bagchi said the allegations are “baseless”, adding that it is “not new” for Islamabad to blame New Delhi. 

“It is not new for Pakistan to engage in baseless propaganda against India. Pakistan would do well to expend the same effort in setting its own house in order and taking credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil and terrorists who have found safe sanctuaries there,” he said.

He added that the international community is “well aware of Pakistan’s credentials when it comes to terrorism”. “This is acknowledged by none other than its own leadership, which continues to glorify terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as martyrs,” he added.

Saeed, who also heads another terrorist outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been designated a ‘global terrorist’ by the UN and the US, and has also been convicted on terrorism-related charges in Pakistan.

(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)


Also Read: OIC asks Modi govt to ‘ensure safety of Muslim minority’, months after plenary invite


 

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