NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi on Friday said that the UN Security Council today discussed the deteriorating situation in occupied Kashmir in the wake of Indian move to change the status of the held territory.
Talking to media along with Chinese envoy to the United Nations after the UNSC meeting in New York, she said all the fifteen permanent and non-permanent member countries attended the consultative session.
Lodhi said the meeting was briefed on the latest developments and the dismal human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.
Maleeha Lodhi said today’s UNSC meeting has nullified Indian claims that Kashmir is their internal matter.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a consultative meeting on Friday to discuss the Kashmir issue as Pakistan urged the world body to implement its own resolutions on this 70-year-old dispute.
The meeting had been called by China on Pakistan’s request to discuss the prevailing situation in occupied Kashmir. In the closed door meeting, briefings were given on the situation and consultations will take place to decide how to proceed further.
The UN political department briefed the Security Council on situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir. This is for the first time in 50 years that the UN Security Council held an exclusive meeting on occupied Kashmir.
“The voice of the Kashmiri people, the voice of the people of occupied Kashmir has been heard today in the highest diplomatic forum of the world. They are not alone, their voices have been heard, their plight, their hardship, their pain, their suffering, their occupation and the consequences of that occupation has been heard in the UNSC,” Maleeha remarked.
Maleeha Lodhi has stated that Pakistan is grateful to China who also joined Pakistan in calling this UNSC meeting.
The meeting took place behind closed doors, the diplomats said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed the current situation in India held Kashmir with US President Donald Trump on telephone ahead of emergency session of the UNSC on Friday.
Imran Khan took the US President into confidence regarding the UN Security Council meeting today in which Kashmir issue is being discussed.
During the telephonic conversation which continued for over 20 minutes, matters pertaining to Indo-Pak tensions, regional peace and other issues came under discussion.
Prime Minister conveyed Pakistan’s concern on recent developments in Occupied Kashmir and the threat they pose to the regional peace.
They also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. The prime minister said Pakistan has been playing a constructive role to bring peace in Afghanistan and it made efforts in past and will do so in future too.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, speaking to media, relayed PM Khan had a telephonic conversation with the US president, during which the former apprised the latter of Islamabad’s stance on India’s unilateral decision to annex Jammu and Kashmir.
Foreign Minister said the conversation between the two leaders was held in a cordial environment. They also agreed to remain in contact over the Kashmir issue.
He quoted the prime minister as telling President Trump that Pakistan is ready to play a role for maintaining regional peace.
It is extremely rare for the Security Council to discuss Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947.
The last time there was a full Security Council meeting on the Himalayan region was in 1965.
Parts of Kashmir that India controls have been under lockdown since August 4, with freedom of movement restricted and phones and the internet cut.
A day later, New Delhi scrapped Article 370 in the Indian constitution that had granted Kashmir special autonomy, splitting the state of Jammu and Kashmir in two and downgrading their status to union territories.
In a speech marking Indian Independence Day Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the decision was one of several “path-breaking” moves by his newly re-elected administration.
He said “fresh thinking” was needed after seven decades of failure to ensure harmony in the picturesque but tragic former kingdom, where tens of thousands have died in the past 30 years.
Pakistan observed “Black Day” Thursday to coincide with India’s independence day celebrations.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has warned of possible “ethnic cleansing” in Kashmir, replaced his Twitter profile photo with a black circle.
Kashmir has been the spark for two major wars and countless clashes between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals, most recently in February when they conducted tit-for-tat air strikes.
Meanwhile, calling out Modi-led Indian government for its ‘fascist tactics’ in occupied Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that such an attempt to suppress Kashmiris’ struggle will miserably fail.
In in his tweets on Friday, PM Khan said: “The fascist, Hindu Supremacist Modi Govt should know that while armies, militants & terrorists can be defeated by superior forces; history tells us that when a nation unites in a freedom struggle & does not fear death, no force can stop it from achieving its goal.”
“That is why the Hindutva exclusivist creed of the Modi-led Govt with its fascist tactics in IoK will fail miserably in its attempt to smother the Kashmiri liberation struggle,” he said. – NNI