Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the world community, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in particular, to come forward and help defuse heightened tensions between Pakistan and India over the long-standing Kashmir dispute.
“If ever the UNSC needs to move, it’s now… there’s potential of the unthinkable,” he said while addressing a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
PM Imran said he was alarmed by the standoff and spoke to the world leaders, including the leaders of the US, UK, Germany and France.
“This is the time the world needs to act, because this is the first time after Cuban crisis that the two nuclear powers have come face to face,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added, had committed a blunder on August 5 by stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. "Modi has boxed himself into a blind alley," he said.
PM Imran feared that there would be “bloodbath in occupied Kashmir once curfew is lifted”.
“It is madness to allow the whole situation to deteriorate further, he said, adding “I fear there is going to be bloodbath”.
He said the international community will be held responsible for impending genocide in occupied Kashmir. “I’m disappointed by international community’s apathy to IOK."
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi also accompanied the premier during the media interaction.
PHOTO: EXPRESSPM Imran said that the main reason he was attending the UNGA session was to highlight the plight of people of Kashmiris.
"For 50 days there is no news coming out of Kashmir. People of IOK residing outside the valley cannot contact their families back home.
"Every international body acknowledges Kashmir as a dispute."
He said unfortunately India today was being governed by a government which is following the racist ideology of RSS.
"We tried our best to reach out to Prime Minister Modi after coming into power last year but to no avail."
PHOTO: EXPRESS"How can you justify locking down eight million people for over 50 days," he said, referring to curfew and other restrictions New Delhi slapped on Kashmiris last month.
‘Mediating Middle East crisis’
PM Imran Imran said not only US President Donald Trump but Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman also asked him to mediate with Iran to defuse tensions.
“Trump asked me that if we could de-escalate the situation and maybe come up with another deal,” he said, after meeting both Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Before being asked by Trump, the premier said, during his stopover in Saudi Arabia, Saudi crown prince asked him to speak to the Iranian president to de-escalate tensions between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran for attacks on its oil facilities, which rattled international markets and exposed the kingdom’s vulnerability to attack. Iran has denied any involvement and vowed to retaliate against even a limited military aggression.
“I immediately spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani after being asked by Trump to mediate on the issue and at the moment I can’t reveal much,” the premier added.
PM Imran is on a week-long visit to attend the 74th session of UN General Assembly.
The highlight of the prime minister’s US visit is his maiden address to UNGA, which would focus on Kashmir.
The prime minister will address the General Assembly on Friday, September 27, and share Pakistan’s perspective and position on the Kashmir dispute and its current human rights and related dimensions.
On Monday, he met Trump, who reiterated his offer for mediation between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir dispute but emphasised that arbitration could not be carried out unless both the parties involved welcome it.
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