US urges restraint over Kashmir

Pakistan’s UN envoy wants Security Council session

WASHINGTON/ UNITED NATIONS: The White House on Thursday urged India and Pakistan to avoid escalation in their dispute over Kashmir.

White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said reports from the region indicated the Indian and Pakistani militarises had been in communication with one another “and we encourage continued discussions ... to avoid escalation”.



He said President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, had spoken to her Indian counterpart on Wednesday and made clear Washington is “concerned by the danger that cross-border terrorism poses”. Earnest said he could not speak to “any specific coordination” between India and the United States on the situation.

Meanwhile,  Pakistan’s UN envoy asked the president of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to informally brief the body on the country’s escalating tension with neighbouring India and said she will discuss it with UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday.



Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told Reuters she met with New Zealand’s UN Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who is president of the 15-member Security Council for September.

“I brought to his attention the dangerous situation that is building up in our region as a result of Indian provocation,” she said. “Our call to the international community is avert a crisis before there is one.”

India’s UN mission was not immediately available for comment. “Pakistan is showing maximum restraint but there are limits to our restraint if India continues with provocations,” Lodhi said. “Right now our effort is just to tell everyone ‘this is what’s happened so far, watch this space because it’s a very dangerous space’.”



She said there had already been “ominous signs of unusual movement” along the border with movements of troops and tanks and credible reports of Indian evacuations of some areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2016.