"We have taken strong objection to the fact that we were unable to express solidarity with the Palestinian people by holding this meeting in Ramallah," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here.
He was replying to questions on the last minute cancellation of a meeting of the NAM committee to support the Palestinian bid for upgraded UN membership after Israel refused to allow representatives of five countries to enter the occupied West Bank.
"This only strengthens our resolve to assist the Palestinian people in their legitimate quest to dignity and their inalienable right to statehood," Akbaruddin said.
India's representative on the committee Sanjay Singh, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry, was in Amman enroute Ramallah when the cancellation of the meeting was announced yesterday.
The meeting of the 12 representatives of Non-Aligned Movement's Palestine committee with Palestinian Authority leadership was scheduled for last evening.
Ministers and representatives were to attend the two-day meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and were to sign a declaration in support of a fresh Palestinian bid seeking upgrading of its status from observer to non-member state.
Ministers and representatives from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cuba and Malaysia were denied permits to enter.
