ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan has welcomed the meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Kashmir, and maintained that it the ‘responsibility’ of the 15-member world body to resolve the decades-old dispute to undo the suffering of the Kashmiris, the Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency reported.
On Friday, the UNSC deliberated upon the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in New York on the request of Pakistan and China for the first time since 1965, nullifying India’s claim that this was an internal matter.
“I welcome the UNSC meeting to discuss the serious situation in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. It is for the first time in over 50 yrs that the world’s highest diplomatic forum has taken up this issue,” the prime minister said in a tweet on Saturday.
The prime minister said that there are 11 UN Security Council 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,” he added.
I welcome the UNSC meeting to discuss the serious situation in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. It is for the first time in over 50 yrs that the world’s highest diplomatic forum has taken up this issue. There are 11 UNSC resolutions reiterating the Kashmiris right to self determination.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 17, 2019
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.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 17, 2019
Flanked by the her Chinese Counterpart Zhang Jun, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi told media after the UNSC meeting that all the 15 Permanent and Non-Permanent Member Countries of the Security Council attended the Consultative Session, and heard the voice of the people of the Indian Ocupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Maleeha Lodhi told that the meeting took stock of the plight and sufferings of the people of the Occupied Kashmir in the wake of unilateral Indian move to change the status of held valley. She said that the UNSC meeting is the testimony of validity of the UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute and it has nullified Indian claims that Kashmir is their internal matter.
We are grateful to all 15 members of the UN Security Council for discussing the situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. China as always stood firmly on principles and upholding international law pic.twitter.com/CohJPsVuie
— Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) August 16, 2019
The Chinese envoy said that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is internationally recognized dispute which should be resolved according to the UN Charter. He said that India’s unilateral step has aggravated the situation in the region.