India has called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against allowing the subversion of its platform by vested interests of individual countries, in a pointed reference to Pakistan's efforts to use the OIC to build adverse narratives vis-a-vis India's internal affairs.
At his regular news briefing on July 8, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in reply to a question, made his reservations known about the OIC’s offer to arrange a meeting between India and Pakistan and also on the organisation’s proposal to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.
On July 5, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, OIC secretary-general Yousef Al-Othaimeen had raised the matter of Jammu and Kashmir with Indian Ambassador Ausaf Sayeed. Pakistan described the OIC's offer of mediation as a political messaging "duly conveyed to India" by the 57-member OIC.
Bagchi, however, pointed out 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.” Bagchi stated that 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 during the meeting with the Indian envoy Yousef Al-Othaimeen reviewed “issues concerning the situation of Muslims in India, along with the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and relevant U.N. and OIC resolutions opposing any unilateral actions on the issue”.
Yousef Al-Othaimeen had earlier stated that the OIC was eager to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, 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.”
Since the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5, 2019, Pakistan has repeatedly sought to raise the Kashmir issue at the OIC.
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