India on Thursday called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to not allow vested interests like Pakistan to "subvert" the grouping's platform for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions. The strong comments by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came in response to the OIC secretary-general proposing to send a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir in line with relevant resolutions by the grouping's council of foreign ministers.
In a meeting with Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ausaf Sayeed, OIC secretary-general Yousef Al-Othaimeen also asked about the possibility of a meeting between India and Pakistan, stating the grouping's General Secretariat stands ready to assist "if the two parties would so request", according to a statement by the OIC. "During the meeting, a wide range of issues were discussed. Our Ambassador conveyed the need to correct some of the misperceptions about India that are perpetrated by vested interests in the OIC," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing. "Further, the OIC should be watchful that their platform is not subverted by these vested interests for comments on internal affairs of India or for anti-India propaganda through biased and one-sided resolutions," he said.
"As regards Pakistan, I have already referred to vested interests in my remarks," he added. Bagchi was replying to a question on the statement issued by the OIC following the meeting.
"We have seen the press release issued by the OIC Secretariat regarding the meeting between our ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the Secretary-General of the OIC on July 5. The meeting was held in response to an earlier request made by the OIC Secretary-General to meet our ambassador," the MEA spokesperson said. In the past, the OIC has criticised India over the Kashmir issue. On its part, New Delhi has always been asserting that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of the country and that the OIC has no locus standi in matters internal to India.
The OIC is a grouping of Muslim-majority nations. In its statement, the OIC said Al-Othaimeen received Sayeed on July 5 in his office in Jeddah and that the Indian envoy was paying a "courtesy visit".
"The Secretary General welcomed Ambassador Sayeed and reviewed with him a number of 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," it said. "He conveyed the desire of the OIC General Secretariat to dispatch a delegation to the disputed territory in line with relevant resolutions of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers," the OIC said.
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