India on Tuesday rejected the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) statement from New York that blamed India’s “unfounded allegations against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan” on Pahalgam as a key factor inflaming tensions in the region.

“The OIC statement, issued at the behest of Pakistan, is absurd in refusing to recognise the facts of the Pahalgam terrorist attack and its cross-border linkages. This is yet another attempt by Pakistan, a country that has long engaged in cross-border terrorism, to manipulate and misguide the OIC group to issue a self-serving statement. We reject the OIC’s interference on matters that are internal to India,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to queries on the OIC’s second statement since the Pahalgam attack.

A copy of the OIC statement is not available on its website but was reported by the Turkish state-run news agency Andalou Agency. According to the agency report, in a joint statement, the OIC said such accusations risk exacerbating an already volatile situation and iterated its “principled position against, and condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomsoever and wherever”.

The report said that the OIC rejected “all attempts to associate any country, race, religion, culture or nationality with terrorism” and added: “The unresolved dispute remains the core issue affecting peace and security in South Asia. The people of Jammu and Kashmir continue to be denied their inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

Earlier this month, the OIC general secretariat expressed deep concern over the deteriorating security situation in the South Asian region and called for restraint and the urgent resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.