Daily Times

The UN Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-moon has said he sees many possibilities in the Pakistani nation that could contribute significantly to the development of a prosperous world provided it redefines its identity as a country that could co-exist peacefully with the international community, especially its neighbours. Praising Pakistan’s role in the war on terror for bearing the most in terms of loss of lives, he called for rethinking on drone attacks that have killed many innocents and are violative of international law. On Kashmir he has asked both India and Pakistan to display responsibility and keep confidence building measures intact. Dialogue according to Ban Ki-moon is the only option to keep the temperature on both sides low as it erupts from time to time. The SG praised Pakistan’s role in UN peacekeeping by providing its major manpower. He called on the world to take a broader view of Pakistan, beyond a ‘terror-inflicting’ state.

Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Pakistan coincided with tension on the Line of Control (LoC) that went viral as emotions ran high on both sides, engendering verbal and cross-fire retaliation. In his joint press conference with the UN SG, Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif preferred a restrained and responsible position to one that may escalate tensions with India. He said he is open to dialogue with India, including on Jammu and Kashmir, trade and commerce. However the PM reiterated Pakistan’s regional role by saying that any important decision pertaining to the region cannot be made while excluding Pakistan’s stake. Ban Ki-moon has offered UN help as requested by Pakistan to resolve the long standing Kashmir issue. India however, since the signing of the 1972 Simla Accord, has resisted third party or multilateral mediation in favour of bilateral engagement. In the absence, however, of such mediation, when trust between both the countries, perennially precarious, suddenly plummets because of an incident on the LoC, the situation spins out of control, hurting the process of dialogue. It is imperative that India and Pakistan abide by the ceasefire of 2003, whereby both the countries’ conventional armies are required to refrain from attacking each other and the Directors General Military Operations on both sides engage to not allow miscreants to disrupt the peace on the LoC. *