OIC has no locus standi on India's internal matters, says MEA on contact group meet on Kashmir

Days after a contact group of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation discussed Kashmir issued at a virtual meeting on the request of Pakistan, India on Thursday asserted that the group has no locus standi on matters strictly internal to the country, including that of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi: India on Thursday hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over one of its contact groups discussing Kashmir, asserting that the grouping has no locus standi on matters strictly internal to the country.

Pakistan had on Monday urged OIC to "step up its efforts" to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had made the remarks during a virtual meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir held "on the request of Pakistan", according to the Pakistan Foreign Office.

Asked about the discussion by the OIC contact group, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, "Our position is consistent on this matter and has no ambiguity. OIC has no locus standi in matters strictly internal to India, including that of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir."

"We have in the past also reiterated that OIC should refrain from making unwarranted references on India."

The Jeddah-headquartered bloc, which is the second-largest intergovernmental body after the UN, has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5 last year and bifurcating it into two Union territories.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter.

It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

PTI