Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi and Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohamad. (Photo: File)
NEW YORK: The lingering Kashmir issue came under renewed international focus with growing calls on Saturday for its peaceful settlement in accordance with the United Nations (UN) resolutions, just a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan's powerful speech at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday that Kashmir "has been invaded and occupied" despite the UN resolution on the issue. While Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for a peaceful resolution of the dispute based on the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions.
In his maiden address to the 74th session of the General Assembly on Friday, Prime Minister Imran tugged at world conscience over Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir, asking "will the world go for a market of 1.2 billion people, or for justice and humanity".
Taking the podium later, Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad discussed several issues facing the Muslim countries and drew the attention of the 193-member General Assembly towards the plight of the Muslims in conflict zones such as Kashmir, Palestine, Myanmar and others.
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Calling for settling the Kashmir dispute through "peaceful means", he regretted that despite the UN resolutions Kashmir "has been invaded and occupied".
"There might be reasons for this action, but it is still wrong," said Mahathir, warning: "Ignoring the UN would lead to other forms of disregard for the UN and the rule of law."
On the question of Palestine, Mahathir said the first action of the UN was the creation of Israel, seizing Arab land and expelling 90% of the Arab population.
"The result was terrorism when there was none before, or not on the present scale."
He said that Malaysia accepts Israel as a fait accompli but cannot accept Jewish settlements or occupation of Jerusalem.
Turning to the Rohingya issue, he noted many colonies in the West had expelled natives from their countries, but never as brutally as in Myanmar. "The Rohingya dare not return to Myanmar because they could not trust its military, due to the helplessness of the world in stopping atrocities."
China's call for resolving Kashmir issue rattles India
The Malaysian premier said that Muslims were accused of terrorism even if they did nothing, while their states were destabilised by regime change. "There were no massive migrations in the past, but now wars and regime change have forced people to flee their countries."
Noting that democracy was not the easiest form of government to operate, especially when it is adopted overnight, he called for time for gradual change.
"Otherwise the result is violence, civil wars or new more harsh regimes."
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the Kashmir issue in his address to the General Assembly on Friday, calling for a peaceful resolution of the dispute between Pakistan and India based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.
In a blunt speech at the annual General Assembly, the Chinese government's top diplomat also said that tariffs and trade disputes could plunge the world into recession and Beijing was committed to resolving them in a "calm, rational and cooperative manner".
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Yi said Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements. "China opposes any unilateral actions that complicated the situation," he said.
Taking a clear swipe at US President Donald Trump, who started a damaging trade war on China nearly 15 months ago, Wang said the lessons of the Great Depression should not be forgotten.
"Erecting walls will not resolve global challenges, and blaming others for one's own problems does not work," he said.
Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a solution through dialogue for the Kashmir dispute in his address at the General Assembly.
Erdogan criticised the international community for failing to pay attention to the Kashmir conflict, which he said, awaited solution for 72 years.
Prime Minister Imran spoke to the General Assembly on Friday. In his address, he emphasised that the world community had a responsibility to ensure that the Kashmiris get their right to self-determination as enshrined in several Security Council resolutions, warning that if a conventional war started between Pakistan and India, anything could happen.
Despite UN resolutions, Kashmir invaded, occupied: Mahathir
The prime minister's powerful address touched nerves in India. Exercising right to reply to Imran's speech, Indian External Affairs Ministry First Secretary Vidisha Maitra lashed out at Pakistan for highlighting the plight of the Kashmiri people.
She reiterated the Indian rhetoric, accusing Pakistan of "terrorism and hate speech" and "trying to play its wild card as the newfound champion of human rights".
She said that Imran's warning of potential nuclear war over Kashmir was not appropriate to "statesmanship".
Meanwhile, India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, on Saturday, termed Chinese Foreign Minister Yi's call for a peaceful resolution to Kashmir dispute an attack on his country's "sovereignty and territorial integrity".
He claimed that Kashmir was India's internal matter and "we expect that other countries will ... desist from efforts to change the status quo through the illegal so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor."
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