MEA was not aware of any India-focussed meeting being organised by OIC

New Delhi, Jan 02: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said it had no information that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was organising any India-focussed meeting and dubbed reports that such a conference was likely to be held on Kashmir as "entirely speculative".

The assertion came after media reports claimed that Saudi Arabia has conveyed to Pakistan through its Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that it was planning to convene a meeting on the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday had said that Islamabad wanted an early meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) be convened to discuss the human rights situation in Kashmir.

Dismissing the media reports on any likely OIC meeting on Kashmir, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "The reports are entirely speculative. I think they are basically coming out from Pakistan that the meeting is being organised. At this stage, we are not aware of any such meeting of OIC on any India-related matter."

"If you see Pakistan's statement, it has said that it is envisaged. They are using words like envisaged, planned etc. I don't think there has been any statement by Pakistan that this is happening," Kumar said at a briefing.

He said that a council of foreign ministers meeting of OIC takes place every year and that will take place this year as well. "Let us see, I am right in saying that we have no information so far regarding any India-focussed meeting which is being organised by OIC," Kumar said.

Asked about Malaysia raising various issues on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and its actions in OIC, he said India has made its stance very clear to that country.

He also pointed to India's statement recently in which it had termed as "factually incorrect" remarks reportedly made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's that India is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship.

The MEA had also said Malaysia should refrain from commenting on the internal developments of India, especially without a right understanding of the facts.

The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan.

The OIC has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5 and bifurcating it into two Union territories.

Responding to a question on India's efforts to extradite fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, Kumar said the matter is under litigation and it is being heard at Westminster Magistrates' court in London.

On the extradition requests against Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is in Antigua and Barbuda, he said," We are committed, we are putting all our resources on the ground to ensure early extradition of Nirav Modi to India...We have requested the Antigua and Barbuda government if they can expedite the legal proceedings so that the process of extradition of Mehul Choksi to India can start."