New Delhi: India’s love-hate relationship with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) continues. On Monday, New Delhi lashed out over a reference in a communiqué by the OIC to the Kashmir issue at the 14th Islamic Summit of the OIC at Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It may be recalled that just three months ago, India was the guest of honour at an OIC meeting in Abu Dhabi.
Media reports said the OIC, at its conference at Mecca, had approved Yousef Aldobeay of Saudi Arabia as the OIC’s “special envoy” for Jammu and Kashmir, besides making controversial references to the Kashmir issue.
On Monday, the MEA said: “We categorically reject yet another unacceptable reference to matters internal to India in the final communiqué adopted at the conclusion of the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia on 31 May 2019. The OIC has no locus standi in matters relating to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India. It is reiterated that OIC should refrain from making such unwarranted references”.
It may be recalled that India was all set to join the OIC 50 years ago as a founding member in 1969 when then Pakistani military dictator Gen. Yahya Khan scuttled the move, creating an anti-India pitch at the forum. In March this year, then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj represented India as the guest of honour at the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan had boycotted that meeting in protest against India’s presence.
Significantly, in a marked departure from the hostility between India and the OIC previously due to the Kashmir issue, Ms Swaraj, in a new beginning, had then hailed the OIC as “an organisation that has a key role in shaping our world”.
