Kuwait Doesn't Support Interference in India's Internal Affairs, Committed to Friendly Relations: MEA

Kuwait does not support any interference in India's internal affairs and has conveyed that it is deeply committed to the friendly relations between the two countries, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

The response by the ministry came following references on Twitter by several people from Kuwait including human rights activists criticising reports of alleged attacks on Muslims in certain parts of India when the country was fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have seen certain references to India in non-official social media handles in Kuwait. The Government of Kuwait has assured us that they are deeply committed to friendly relations with India. They also do not support any interference in the internal affairs of India," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

He also mentioned about India sending a rapid response team to Kuwait recently to help the country fight the pandemic.

Srivastava said the team rendered valuable medical assistance in treatment of people affected by the virus.

"It is, therefore, important that friendly and cooperative nature of our relations is accurately recognised and misuse of social media is not given credence," he said.

Ambassador of Kuwait to India Jassem Al-Najem too talked about the principle of non-interference in relations between the two countries.

Kuwait and India share many principles in their foreign policies, like respecting UN Charter, non-interference in other countries' affairs and respecting sovereignty of nations Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted Al-Najem as saying.

Last week, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had alleged that the Muslims in India were victims of "Islamophobia". Government sources slammed the OIC's remarks as "regrettable".

The OIC is an influential grouping consisting of 57 member states with a collective population of over 1.8 billion. Around 53 member states in the grouping are Muslim-majority countries.