Three months after New Delhi had toned down its criticism of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) reference to Jammu and Kashmir, India on Monday raised the decibel and rejected the OIC’s reference to Kashmir as “unacceptable” and said that the grouping has “no locus standi”. AdvertisingThis is a turnaround from the March 2 statement earlier this year when India had merely said that Jammu and Kashmir is an “integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India”. But, unlike previous statements, it did not say in the March 2 statement that OIC has no locus standi and that India is rejecting the statement. Pakistan’s request was turned down by host UAE, resulting in Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary. We reaffirm that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India,” the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Kumar had said on March 2.

Source: Indian Express June 03, 2019 20:48 UTC