Daily Times

The very rare meeting of the United Nations Security Council held to discuss the issue of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) is not only a huge diplomatic success for Pakistan but also an undeniable fact to prove the international status of the issue, completely nullifying the Indian propaganda that Jammu and Kashmir is their ‘internal matter’.

This is the first time in over 50 years that the UN Security Council has exclusively met to discuss the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The last exclusive discussion on the 70-year-old dispute was held back in 1965.

The meeting was called by China on Pakistan’s request to discuss the prevailing situation in IHK after India revoked special status of the occupied valley. The meeting, which India opposed and tried to stop, took place with unanimous consent of the 15-member Security Council. Pakistan had drawn the attention of the UNSC presidency to the grave threat to peace and security in the region after India’s illegal move and had called for summoning an emergency meeting of the council to discuss the rapidly aggravating situation in the occupied valley.

Discussions in the meeting reaffirmed that the Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, which call for a plebiscite, are alive and remain central to the resolution of the dispute. The discussion in the Security Council also reinforced what the OIC, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, international human rights organizations, and, above all, the UN secretary general have said about the grave and deteriorating human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

The consensus in the Security Council for a peaceful settlement of the dispute is a clear endorsement of Pakistan’s position that this is an international dispute which must be resolved by political means and not by unilateral coercive means.

This marks only the first step in Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to respond to India’s illegal annexation of Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad has resolved to now build on this and not rest until there is a just settlement of the dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.