Referring to the palm oil import boycott, Delhi said that trade cannot be “impervious” to the state of the bilateral relationship

Calling Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments “unacceptable”, India on Thursday slammed Malaysia for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and asked its leadership to do “serious introspection”.

Referring to the palm oil import boycott, Delhi said that trade cannot be “impervious” to the state of the bilateral relationship.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that “his statements are unacceptable and are not keeping with the facts and we hope Malaysia will do serious introspection on the position it has taken”.

Asked about the impact on trade between the two countries, the MEA spokesperson said that while the “decision to import any commodity or otherwise is the prerogative of the importing company”, at the “same time they are not impervious to the state of affairs between any two countries”.

Mahathir had said on Tuesday that he would not retract his criticism of New Delhi’s actions on Kashmir despite Indian traders calling for an unprecedented boycott of Malaysian palm oil.

India’s top vegetable oil trade body on Monday asked its members to stop buying Malaysian palm oil after Mahathir said at the UN General Assembly last month that India had “invaded and occupied” Kashmir, a region also claimed by Pakistan.