Abu Dhabi: Indian Muslims have rejected the poisonous ideology of extremism because of their country's pluralism and culture of religious co-existence, Sushma Swaraj, Indian External Affairs Minister said at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's meeting with its foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi.

"I stand here as a representative of a land, that has been for ages a fountain of knowledge, a beacon of peace, a source of faiths and traditions, home to many religions - and now, one of the major economies of the world," said Swaraj in her plenary remark. 

"I carry the greetings of my Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji and 1.3 billion Indians, including more than 185 million Muslim brothers and sisters."

Calling the Muslims population of India "a microcosm of the diversity of India," who speak different languages and have follow diverse cuisines and cultural and linguistic heritage, Sushma said, "they practice their respective beliefs and live in harmony with each other and with their non-Muslim brethren." 

"It is this appreciation of diversity and co-existence, that has ensured that very few Muslims in India have fallen prey to the poisonous propaganda of radical and extremist ideologies."