E-Paper
Don’t allow OIC to be subverted by ‘vested interests’ like Pak, says India
The Indian position was articulated by external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a regular news briefing while responding to questions on the OIC’s offer to arrange a meeting between India and Pakistan and the organisation’s proposal to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.
India on Thursday called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to not allow its platform to be subverted by “vested interests” such as Pakistan to interfere in India’s internal affairs or to carry out propaganda against the country.
The Indian position was articulated by external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a regular news briefing while responding to questions on the OIC’s offer to arrange a meeting between India and Pakistan and the organisation’s proposal to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.
OIC secretary-general Yousef Al-Othaimeen had raised these issues with Indian ambassador Ausaf Sayeed during a meeting in Jeddah on July 5. Pakistan latched on to a statement issued by the OIC after the meeting to claim this was the first time the position of 57 OIC member states had been “duly conveyed to India”.
Bagchi noted that the meeting with the Indian envoy was held in response to an earlier request from the OIC secretary-general and said the “OIC should be watchful that their platform is not subverted by... vested interests for comments on internal affairs of India or for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions”.
Asked about Pakistan’s role in the entire affair, Bagchi said, “As regards Pakistan, I have already referred to vested interests in my remarks.”
Bagchi also said the Indian ambassador had used the meeting with the OIC official to convey the “need to correct some of the misperceptions about India that are perpetrated by vested interests in the OIC”.
The OIC, in its statement, had said that Al-Othaimeen had reviewed “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” during the meeting with the Indian envoy.
Al-Othaimeen conveyed OIC’s desire to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir in line with resolutions of the OIC council of foreign ministers, and “asked about the possibility of a meeting between Pakistan and India, stating that the general secretariat stands ready to assist if the two parties would so request,” the statement added.
Pakistan has repeatedly sought to raise the Kashmir issue at the OIC against the backdrop of India’s dramatically improved relations with several key players in West Asia and in the Islamic organisation, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
In 2019, Pakistan was angered when then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was invited by the UAE to attend and address an OIC foreign ministers meeting as a special guest. Pakistan has also been finding fewer takers among OIC member states for resolutions aimed against India but continues to rake up matters such as Kashmir at the grouping.
The OIC CFM in Niamey in November 2020 categorically rejected India’s unilateral actions since 5 August 2019. It also demanded that India rescind its illegal actions and respect the inalienable right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination, as promised by numerous UNSC resolutions.
The Kashmir issue wasn’t on the official agenda of a meeting of OIC foreign ministers held in Niger in November 2020 but Pakistan subsequently proposed a resolution on the matter.
