NEW DELHI: After Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz addressed the Organ­i­sation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, India rejected allegations levelled against it and recalled its earlier position that the OIC had no locus standi in the matter, The Hindu reported on Wednesday.

It quoted Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup as telling reporters in New York that India had a consistent position on the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir and had nothing more to add to it.

On a similar occasion earlier, the then spokesperson had said: “The OIC has no locus standi on matters concerning the internal affairs of India or the recent incidents on the LoC,” The Hindu said.

Mr Aziz, addressing the meeting, accused India of trying “to quell the Kashmiri struggle by use of brute force”. “The Kashmiri leaders continue to remain in detention or have been put under house arrest… India is attempting to change the demographic make-up of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir by settling non-State, non-Muslim subjects in occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr Aziz said, adding that Pakistan was steadfast “in extending political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their just struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination.”

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

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