India categorically rejects OIC Contact Group’s remarks on Kashmi

India rejected the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation Contact Group’s references to Kashmir on September 23, 2026, saying the grouping had no standing to comment on matters it described as strictly internal to India.

MEA says OIC has ‘no locus standi’

The Ministry of External Affairs said India “categorically rejected” the references to Kashmir in the Joint Communique of the Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.

“The OIC has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are strictly internal to India,” the MEA said in its response to the OIC statement.

The ministry said the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an “integral and inalienable part of India”.

It added that “no amount of repetition of politically motivated propaganda can change this reality”.

The MEA also said that repeated endorsement of such narratives “only raises serious questions on the credibility of OIC”.

Contact Group met on UNGA sidelines

The OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir consists of Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye.

The group met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual session on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.

In its statement, the Contact Group expressed “deep concern” about the India-Pakistan conflict of May 2025.

It also termed India’s strikes against terror targets inside Pakistan “unlawful”.

The Contact Group said the conflict had “once again shown that durable peace and stability in South Asia will remain contingent upon the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri People”.

India calls declaration ‘fabricated’

Responding to the Contact Group’s statement, the MEA described its declaration as “fabricated and motivated propaganda”.

The ministry said the OIC would be “better advised to counsel Pakistan, which has a well-documented record of supporting and sponsoring terrorism, to look inwards and address the continuing threat of terrorism emanating from territories under its control.”

India’s response matters because it directly contests both the OIC Contact Group’s remarks on Kashmir and its characterisation of India’s strikes against terror targets inside Pakistan.

The exchange also places Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh at the centre of India’s stated position that the issue is internal, while the Contact Group linked peace and stability in South Asia to the Kashmir dispute.

The MEA response was published on September 23, 2026, at 06:30 pm IST.

Source: The Hindu