India rejects OIC reference to Jammu and Kashmir, says group has no locus standi in matter
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had appointed a special envoy for the state during a summit in Makkah on May 31.
The Indian government on Monday rejected the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s reference to Jammu and Kashmir and said the organisation had no “locus standi” in matters related to the state.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation or OIC on May 31 appointed Yousef Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia, an assistant secretary general of the organisation, a special envoy for Jammu and Kashmir during the 14th OIC summit held in Makkah.
The OIC extended support to the “people of Jammu and Kashmir for the realisation of their legitimate right to self-determination, in accordance with relevant UN [United Nations] resolutions” and condemned “outbreaks of violence in the region”, according to the Hindustan Times. A communique issued after the summit called for a UN commission to investigate alleged rights violations in Kashmir and said that the commission and global rights group should be allowed access to Kashmir.
Responding to media queries on the reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the communique, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “We categorically reject yet another unacceptable reference to matters internal to India in the Final Communiqué adopted at the conclusion of the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia on 31 May 2019.”
Kumar further said: “The OIC has no locus standi in matters relating to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. It is reiterated that OIC should refrain from making such unwarranted references.”
Former Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had attended the inaugural plenary of the foreign ministers’ conclave of the OIC in Abu Dhabi on March 1. She was the first Indian minister to address the OIC meeting. Swaraj’s Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi skipped the OIC meeting in protest against the group’s decision to invite her.
A day later, the OIC adopted a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, condemning the “atrocities and human rights violations” in the state. Kumar had then said that matters of Jammu and Kashmir were “strictly internal” to India.
