India Rejects OIC References, Accuses Pakistan of Orchestrating Them

India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected references to India in resolutions adopted at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Baghdad, accusing Pakistan of orchestrating them and saying the bloc had been misused to advance its agenda. The ministry said on October 19 that the references in resolutions from the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, held October 17-18, were “malicious, biased and false.” It said the organization had no standing to comment on matters India considers internal, including Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The ministry reiterated that the two union territories are integral parts of India. It also said Jammu and Kashmir had recorded significant economic growth since the abrogation of Article 370, citing infrastructure development, tourism and connectivity as areas where residents had benefited. Those claims were presented by the ministry; the reports supplied no independent assessment of them. The statement contrasted the ministry’s account of development in Jammu and Kashmir with what it described as violence and repression against civilian protesters in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It alleged that scores of protesters,...