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India rejects OIC statement on Jammu and Kashmir
Responding to the statement, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “The statement issued by the General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir today reeks of bigotry.”
India on Friday dismissed the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) call for rolling back the changes made to Jammu and Kashmir’s status in 2019 and said that the union territory “is and will remain an integral” part of the country.
A statement issued by the OIC general secretariat on the third anniversary of the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status called for respecting the fundamental freedoms and human rights of the Kashmiri people and for the “reversal of all illegal and unilateral measures taken on or after 5 August 2019”.
Responding to the statement, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “The statement issued by the General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir today reeks of bigotry.”
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Bagchi made it clear that the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir “is and will remain an integral and inalienable part of India”. He added, “As a result of long-awaited changes three years ago, it today reaps the benefits of socio-economic growth and development.”
In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Bagchi said the OIC general secretariat “continues to issue statements on Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of a serial violator of human rights and notorious promoter of cross-border, regional and international terrorism”.
He added, “Such statements only expose the OIC as an organisation devoted to a communal agenda being pursued through terrorism.”
The OIC statement noted that August 5 marked the third anniversary of what it contended were “illegal and unilateral actions” in Jammu and Kashmir, which were “followed by additional unlawful measures including illegal demographic changes”.
“Such illegal actions can neither alter the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir nor prejudice the legitimate right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people,” the statement said.
The statement recalled resolutions of the Islamic Summit and Council of Foreign Ministers on Jammu and Kashmir and reaffirmed OIC’s “solidarity with the Kashmiri people in the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination”.
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The OIC general secretariat also called on the world community to take steps for the “resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions”.
The Indian government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and split the region into two union territories in August 2019, saying at the time that the move was aimed at tackling terrorism and corruption and boosting economic development. The action had angered both Pakistan and its traditional ally China, which claims parts of the Ladakh region.
