Pakistan raising Kashmir issue at Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting 'unwarranted': India

NEW YORK: India has raised objections over Pakistan raising Kashmir issue at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, saying it is completely "unwarranted" for the grouping as well as its member countries to discuss matters related to India's internal affairs in any multi-organisation set up.

Pakistan raked up the Kashmir issue at the OIC Contact Group meeting held Wednesday on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

"We always note with regret that the matter which is very internal to Indian affairs was again discussed at the OIC," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters here when asked about Pakistan raising the issue at the OIC meeting. He said India rejects such references to a matter which is very internal to it.

"We have said in the past that OIC has no locus standi to comment on India's internal affairs" and it is completely unwarranted for OIC as well as its member countries to discuss matters related to India's internal affairs in any multi-organisation set up.

When asked about Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also raising the Kashmir issue in his bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Kumar said Islamabad has been doing this for a long time.

"It is not the first time they are raising the issue in their bilateral meetings. You would note that what they come up with is their side of the story. What they share and what they say has no acceptance anywhere in the international community," he said.

He said Pakistan has realised its "falsehood" and what it has been projecting had already been rejected by the international community.

On the possibility of any exchange between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Qureshi in the SAARC meeting, Kumar said, "we have made it very clear that it is not bilateral meeting between India and Pakistan," and added that it is "difficult to predict if there will be a handshake" between the two.

Swaraj will be attending the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) meeting Thursday.

On Wednesday, Swaraj held bilateral meetings with her counterparts from Germany, Bolivia, Armenia, Panama, Austria, Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Iran and with Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

"A relationship like no other! EAM @SushmaSwaraj met the @PM_Nepal K.P Sharma Oli. Positive and friendly conversation on taking our relationship to an even higher trajectory," Kumar tweeted.