Pakistan raises Kashmir issue in UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has raised the Kashmir issue forcefully in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

According to a statement from Pakistan’s UN Mission, Pakistan highlighted the Kashmir dispute in the Security Council and emphasized the need for addressing the root causes of conflicts to ensure sustainable peace.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Tariq Fatemi, addressed the open debate in the Security Council, stating that the Jammu and Kashmir issue remains on the UNSC agenda and its fair and final resolution is still pending.

He asserted that the Security Council has a responsibility to ensure that the Kashmiri people are granted their promised right to self-determination through a plebiscite. He urged the Council to take steps to implement its resolutions for a just and lasting solution to the dispute.

Tariq Fatemi informed the participants that Pakistan is among the longest-serving contributors to UN peacekeeping missions and is a founding member of the UN Peacebuilding Commission.

He highlighted that Pakistan has deployed over 235,000 peacekeeping personnel in 48 missions so far. Additionally, 181 Pakistani peacekeepers have sacrificed their lives for global peace and security.

On the other hand, Pakistan brushed aside India’s claim of Jammu and Kashmir being its ‘integral part”, saying the disputed status of the Himalayan state is acknowledged by the UN and the international community.

“Every official UN map depicts Jammu and Kashmir as disputed territory,” Pakistani delegate Gul Qaiser Sarvani told the UN Security Council as its high-level discussion on UN peacekeeping operations came to a end.

Sarwani, who is a counselor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, was reacting to Indian Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish’s claim that ” Kashmir has been, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”

The Indian ambassador made that claim in response to the Special Assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister/Minister of State, Syed Tariq Fatemi, who made an earnest call on the 15-member Council to implement its own resolutions promising the Kashmiri people the right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite.