India on Tuesday rejected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s references to Jammu and Kashmir during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, saying the issue concerns India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and that no external party has any locus standi on it.
“You would have seen that these remarks you refer to were made by the Turkish President. India rejects the unwarranted references to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir made by the President of Turkey during his UNGA address. “Our statement on Kashmir is clear. “India categorically rejects the unwarranted and factually incorrect references to India in the Joint Communique of the so-called OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.
This is a matter, as you would understand, pertaining to India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and no external party has any locus standi on this issue,” Jaiswal said. Everyone is aware of our position on Kashmir over the past few years,” Jaiswal had said at the time, while ruling out a third-party role or mediation. The MEA described those references as “unwarranted and factually incorrect” and said the OIC had no locus standi to comment on matters that India considers internal. The OIC has no locus standi to pronounce on matters that are strictly internal to India,” the MEA had said. The ministry also reiterated that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are “integral and inalienable” parts of India, adding that “no amount of repetition of politically motivated propaganda can change this reality”.
Responding to questions during a bi-weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described Erdogan’s remarks as “unwarranted references” to the Union Territory.
