ISLAMABAD: Stepping up its efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue, Pakistan has written to United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon on the recent border tension with India and has sought the UN’s intervention.
In his letter, Sartaz Aziz, Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accused India of “deliberate and unprovoked violations of the ceasefire agreement and cross-border firing” over the past weeks.
The letter alleged that “persistent shelling and firing by India” has resulted in “heavy civilian casualties on our side”, according to a national television channel.
Pakistan, he wrote, wants a “peaceful resolution of all issues between India and Pakistan, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” and also that “Pakistan believes the United Nations has an important role to play in promoting this objective, through your good offices, which we have always welcomed.”
“The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the long outstanding issues on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council, whose resolutions promising the holding of a plebiscite, under the auspices of the United Nations, for self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, remain valid though unimplemented to date. For decades, Pakistan has been reminding the United Nations and the international community to fulfill that promise, in the interest of durable peace and security in the region,” the letter said.
Referring to Sharif’s address to the UN General Assembly last month, during which he brought up the Kashmir issue, Aziz wrote, “Unfortunately, India has adopted a policy that runs counter to its stated desire to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan.” He also accused India of cancelling Foreign Secretary level talks “unilaterally and without any plausible justification.”
A day after Sharif spoke in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech, had said, “Raising it at the UN will not resolve bilateral issues.” The Centre is yet to react to Pakistan’s letter.
The decision to write the letter was taken at a meeting of Pakistan’s National Security Committee on Friday, Press Trust of India reports. Aziz has requested that it be “circulated as an official document of the Security Council”.
The International border between India and Pakistan has seen the heaviest firing in a decade this month. Eight people have died and nearly 90 people — including 13 securitymen — have been injured in Jammu and Kashmir. On 9th October, India warned Pakistan to end its “adventurism”. “Pakistan has clearly been the aggressor, they must realise our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,” Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had said.
The Indian Army assesses that the sharp increase in violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan and the attacks this year is part of its effort to raise the Kashmir issue in the international forum. “I feel Pakistan wants to internationalise the Kashmir issue and wants the focus to be back on Kashmir,” Lieutenant General KH Singh, Commander of the Nagrota-based 16 Corps said.