New York
With the UN Security Council preparing to hold consultations tomorrow on India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir, Pakistan’s Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi has called on the 15-member body to take note of New Delhi’s “illegal” action and to reaffirm its commitment to its own resolutions that pledge the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
In a series of interviews with international media outlets, she said she has been meeting all the members of the Security Council, including the five permanent members, since the crisis erupted last week and briefing them of the precarious situation in occupied Kashmir.”We are getting significant traction from the members of the Council,” the Pakistani envoy told TRT, the Turkish international channel.When her attention was drawn by BBC News to statements made by some Council members on Pakistan’s move for a Council meeting on the crisis, Ambassador Lodhi said, “I am not going to pre-judge what the Council members are going to say but I think they will be guided by the statement of the UN Secretary General (Antonio Guterres).”. The UN chief had voiced concern over over India’s action in Kashmir and said that the status of Jammu and Kashmir should not be altered
He also reaffirmed UN resolutions for a settlement of the the decades-old Kashmir dispute,”It was an important statement and they (Council members) will be guided by that and I think at this point in time the very affirmation or re-affirmation of the Council’s resolutions itself is going to nullify the Indian claim that this is an internal matter,” the Pakistan envoy said. “So, I think it’s important to wait and see,” she said, while also urging that international opinion, as expressed by the media,” should also be taken note of. “At the end of the day or perhaps at the start of the day, this is about people, it’s about the pain and suffering and plight of the people who been now locked up in their own homes, their state has been dismembered, they have been completely disinherited and now the Indian government is planning a demographic change to take away from them their majority status in their own region.”
About India’s claim that the revocation of Article 370 of Indian Constitution would benefit Kashmir, Ambassador Lodhi said, “Well, India’s own claim is contradicted by what they have done, if this was being done in interest of the people of Jammu and Kashmir then they should have been allowed to come out and to welcome this move, the fact they’ve been muffled, they’ve been locked up. “India knows that what it has done will never be accepted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. I think the few reports that are coming out right now from the valley indicate that not a single, not a single Kashmiri is going to get up and support, even pro-Indian politicians in Kashmir have been saying this is unacceptable, “ She said. “
