India Rebuffs Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Appointing Kashmir Envoy

New Delhi (Sputnik) — India on Monday categorically rejected the appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir made at the 14th Islamic Summit of the OIC Member States. The Indian Foreign Ministry said the OIC made an "unacceptable reference" to matters internal to India in the final communique which was adopted at the summit on 31 May in Mekkah, Saudi Arabia.

"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," Indian External Affairs Ministry's spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

India Targets Pakistan in a Veiled Attack at OIC in UAE

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Earlier, the group reiterated its support for the legitimate rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the UN resolutions, the Pakistan Foreign Office said in Islamabad. Referring to the UN Kashmir Report of 2018, the Final Communique of the Conference called for expedited establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate the "grave human rights violations" and urged India to allow the Commission and other international organisations access to Kashmir.

India already rejected the UN report on the ‘Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir' — the first-ever such report on Jammu and Kashmir that came out in June 2018 — and accused the High Commissioner of Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein of "clear bias" in bringing it out.

In March, Sushma Swaraj, the then-Indian External Affairs Minister, attended the foreign ministers' session of the OIC at Abu Dhabi as the Guest of Honour. It was boycotted by Pakistan — one of the founding members of the group — while calling for the withdrawal of Swaraj's invitation.