Decades old struggle: Pakistan raises Kashmir issue in UN

Pakistan stresses need for peaceful settlement of dispute between India and Pakistan over Himalayan state.

UNITED NATIONS: Regretting that the decades-old UN Security Council resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir remain unimplemented, Pakistan on Monday stressed the need for a peaceful settlement of the dispute between India and Pakistan over the Himalayan state. “The realisation of the right to self-determination continues to be denied to the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Ambassador Masood Khan told Sochum, UN General Assembly’s third committee . Pakistan, he said, supported the realisation of the right to self-determination in Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue and peaceful means.  Reiterating that the territory of Jammu and Kashmir remains disputed, the Pakistani ambassador said, “Legally and constitutionally, it never became part of India, let alone its integral part.” Masood Khan firmly rejected characterization - by Indian leaders - of the Kashmiri people’s struggle for their inalienable rights as terrorism. forthwith.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2013.