Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday welcomed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s offer to mediate between Pakistan and Indian amid the heightening tension between the two countries after the killing of a Kashmiri separatist commander at the hands of the Indian security forces.

“It is the UN’s responsibility to intervene in the matter and get the issue resolved,” Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said during a weekly press briefing, adding that the world body should play its role and get its resolutions implemented. “We have been engaged in a bilateral dialogue to resolve this issue without any success for a long time.” “We would welcome such an intervention from the UN.” The spokesman rejected the Indian government’s view that the ongoing unrest in IHK was ‘an internal matter’ and condemned the fresh wave of violence against Kashmiris. “India cannot call the present situation in IHK an internal matter,” Zakaria said.

“Jammu and Kashmir is not an internal matter of India, it’s a recognised issue under the United Nations,” he said. He rejected Indian accusations of terrorism against the people of IHK. “Dialogue is the only option to resolve this issue,” he said.

The FO expressed Pakistan’s concerns at the detention of Kashmiri leadership in IHK and called upon the Indian government to fulfil its human rights obligations as well as its commitments under the UN resolutions. “Kashmir is a disputed matter with numerous UNSC resolutions outstanding on its agenda that reiterate the call for plebiscite,” the spokesman said. He said the international community recognised the Kashmiris’ movement for self-determination and it were the Indian security forces in fact that were indulging in state-sponsored terrorism in Occupied Kashmir.

The death toll from clashes between Indian troops and protesters in the region has risen to 34 as massive protests continued despite imposition of an indefinite curfew in most parts of IHK after separatist commander Burhan Wani’s killing on Friday. Paramilitary troops and police in riot gear patrolled villages and towns in the region on Thursday.