Unfinished agenda: PM rebukes UN for Kashmir ‘failure’

Asks diplomatic authorities to write letters to UN, urging efforts to end violation of Kashmiris rights

ISLAMABAD: Coming down hard on the United Nations, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the denial to the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) of right to self-determination is ‘one of the persistent failures of the UN’.

PM’s comments came on Tuesday during a preparatory meeting for the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) session starting on September 13.  In the session, Pakistan will take up the crisis in IOK, where Indian forces have killed more than 50 protestors.

The premier also directed the diplomatic authorities to write letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN Human Rights Commissioner Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein to urge efforts to end the persistent and egregious violation of the basic human rights.

The letters will also urge to implement UN Security Council Resolutions, which provide for self-determination of the Kashmiri people through a fair and impartial plebiscite under its command.



Diplomatic functionaries including Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Maliha Lodhi, the PM’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaz Aziz, PM’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbass Jilani and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that Maliha Lodhi gave a detailed briefing to the PM regarding Pakistan’s stance on IOK in the upcoming session.

Sources said the PM was surprised after learning that the UN’s mission in Pakistan did not issue a single statement in condemnation of violence.

Even though the UN chief has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir issue, no strong condemnation has come from the world body, especially its offices located in Pakistan, including the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).

Reportedly, Nawaz expressed his dismay over the fact that more than a dozen UN agencies and the UNIC are operating in Pakistan under the humanitarian mandate but none of them offered condemnation on the IOK unrest.

“What are these offices for when they cannot take up a human rights issue as serious and genuine as the IOK? What could be more grave an issue than that?” credible sources quoted Nawaz as saying.

"I will leave no stone unturned to make the world understand the plight and the legitimate struggle of the people of Kashmir," the PM said, adding that Kashmir is an unfinished agenda of the UN.

Pakistan has recently approached the UN Human Rights Council for a fact-finding mission in the IOK.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2016.