The Kashmir issue has almost always been a part of the dialogue by the Pakistani side at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings, but officials privy to the preparations being made for this year’s session said the dispute would find special mention in Mr Sharif’s speech next week.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has assured the leaders of Azad Kashmir on Friday that he would raise the Kashmir dispute at the UN in a forceful manner, much like his triumphant moment at the UNGA last year. But what has been achieved from that meeting to this one? The situation has gone from bad to worse, as at least 80 people have been killed in Indian-held Kashmir and some 10,000 have been injured. The situation looks bleak at the 71st session of the UNGA.
The deteriorating situation in India-held Kashmir has now made it crucial to establish an independent, impartial and international mission to assess the situation according to the the UN Human Rights Chief who regretted India’s lack of response to his request for access to its Indian held Kashmir. Not that his opinion seems to matter, seeing that the UN is impotent in the efforts to generate peace.
In response to Pakistan’s proposal for foreign secretary-level talks, India raised the issue of “cross-border terrorism in Kashmir” and “the earliest possible vacation of Pakistan’s illegal occupation” of Jammu and Kashmir – an aggressive policy of denial and diversion. The UN is the only place Kashmir can turn to, but without being a state, it has no representation. Pakistan is the only country that can give their concerns voice.
Though practically impossible, the UN Security Council has the mandate to make binding resolutions over the conflict, just in light of human rights violations in Kashmir and customary international law that respects a people’s right to self-determination. Though any resolution can be vetoed by the US, even if a solution faces a veto, Pakistan would like to see the matter of Kashmir put on the table. Is that too much to ask of a world body that came into being promising peace for people of all nations?
