Onlykashmir.in News Desk
New Delhi has categorically rejected references to Jammu and Kashmir in the Joint Communiqué issued by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, calling them unwarranted and factually incorrect. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said the OIC has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are strictly internal to India, reiterating New Delhi’s long-standing position that the grouping has no legitimate role in commenting on the constitutional status of the Union Territories.
The Ministry asserted that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of India, and said no amount of repetition of what it described as politically motivated propaganda could change that reality. It added that the OIC’s repeated endorsement of such narratives only raises serious questions about the credibility of the organisation as a multilateral body, suggesting that the grouping’s continued engagement with the subject undermines rather than strengthens its standing on the international stage.
In particularly pointed language, the Ministry said that rather than offering Pakistan a platform to peddle what it called fabricated and motivated propaganda, the OIC would be better advised to counsel Islamabad, which it described as having a well-documented record of supporting and sponsoring terrorism, to look inward and address the continuing threat of terrorism emanating from territories under its control. The statement reflects India’s consistent diplomatic posture of pairing rejections of OIC statements on Kashmir with counter-accusations against Pakistan regarding cross-border terrorism, a pattern that has recurred at successive OIC Contact Group sessions over the years.
The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, established decades ago with Pakistan as a key sponsor within the organisation, has periodically issued communiqués referencing the Kashmir dispute, statements that India has consistently dismissed as outside the group’s legitimate mandate given the absence of any locus standi on a matter it considers purely domestic. The latest rejection follows a familiar diplomatic script, with New Delhi using the occasion to reaffirm its sovereignty position while simultaneously turning attention back towards Pakistan’s record on terrorism, a framing intended to blunt the diplomatic impact of the OIC statement among other member states and the wider international community.
