Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday welcomed the United Nations Security Council meeting on the Kashmir situation. He added that ensuring resolution of the dispute was the responsibility of the world body.
Last week, India rescinded the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of Constitution, which has angered the neighbouring country. Pakistan wrote to the United Nations Security Council, asking for an emergency meeting to discuss India’s “illegal” actions. China, a permanent member of the council, backed Pakistan’s request, and urged the Security Council to meet behind closed doors to discuss the matter.
After the meeting on Friday, India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin said the abrogation of Article 370 of its Constitution was entirely its internal matter and that Pakistan must “stop terror to start talks”. The meeting, the first in over 50 years to discuss Kashmir, ended without any outcome or statement from the council.
“It is for the first time in over 50 yrs that the world’s highest diplomatic forum has taken up this issue,” Khan said on Twitter. “There are 11 UNSC resolutions reiterating the Kashmiris right to self determination. And the UNSC meeting was a reaffirmation of these resolutions. Therefore addressing the suffering of the Kashmiri people & ensuring resolution of the dispute is the responsibility of this world body.”
After the meeting, Pakistan’s United Nations Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said it was not the “last step” taken by the country over the situation. “This meeting nullifies India’s claims that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter of India,” Lodhi said.
China had said that the United Nations Security Council members were deeply concerned about the situation in the region and hoped that the “relevant parties will exercise restraint and refrain from taking unilateral actions”. It also called upon the two countries to resolve the matter through dialogue.
Commenting on remarks by the Chinese and Pakistani ambassadors after the meeting, Akbaruddin said, “For the first time after the end of Security Council consultations, we noted that two states who made national statements tried to pass them off as the will of the international community. National statements [trying] to masquerade as the will of the international community.”
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