India puts OIC in place for Kashmir rant at UN

New Delhi/ Srinagar: India has fiercely hit back at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for raking up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations (UN) and pointed out categorically that the OIC has no locus standi to comment on our internal affairs. The OIC is a 57-nation grouping which claims to be the collected voice of Muslims across the world.

In a sharp rebuke to a statement made by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC at the UN, New Delhi stated that Jammu and Kashmir is an "integral and inseparable" part of India and advised the Organisation to refrain from making such references in future. "India notes with utmost regret that the OIC statement contains factually incorrect and misleading references to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inseparable part of India," said First Secretary at India's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva Sumit Seth.

He made the statement exercising India's Right of Reply in response to comments made by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC. "India outrightly rejects all such references. The OIC has no locus standi on India's internal affairs. We strongly advise the OIC to refrain from making such references in future," Seth said.

Speaking on behalf of the OIC, Pakistan had criticised India on the Kashmir issue. The OIC has made statements on Kashmir in the past, too, which have been rejected by India.

Meanwhile, a Congress panel headed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government to keep the dialogue route with separatists open. The party delegation is on a two-day visit to Kashmir to attend a series of meetings on the current situation in the Valley.

The AICC's 'Policy and Planning' group was formed in April in the wake of widespread violence in the state during the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-polls. The other members of the group include Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union home and finance minister P Chidambaram and party general secretary Ambika Soni.