India Hits out at OIC for its “Unwarranted Comments” on J&K
NEW DELHI, May 16: India On Monday hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for its “unwarranted” comments on the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are dismayed that the OIC secretariat has once again made unwarranted comments on the internal affairs of India,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “As in the past, the Government of India categorically rejects the assertions made by the OIC secretariat on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.
The delimitation commission, tasked with redrawing parliamentary and assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, notified its final report earlier this month. “The OIC should refrain from carrying out its communal agenda vis-a-vis India at the behest of one country,” the Ministry spokesperson said in an oblique reference to Pakistan.
The completion of the delimitation exercise paves the way for holding of the Assembly elections in J&K. The former state and now a union territory is without an elected government since June 2018. Of the 90 assembly constituencies, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 for Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir have been treated as a single entity for the purposes of delimitation. The number of total assembly seats in Jammu has risen from 37 to 43 assembly seats.
(Manas Dasgupta)
