NEW YORK: UN Security Council (UNSC) members held rare closed-door consultation on the disputed region of Kashmir amid ongoing concerns over the flashpoint between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India.
UNSC closed-door session on Kashmir held after a nudge from China. A reiteration for the second round of closed-door consultations was requested by China under “AOB” (Any Other Business).
The meeting is based on an old request raised by Pakistan in December 2019.
The 15-member body met at around in New York to consult on the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) related to political detentions and continued internet restrictions in the IoK.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun warned of “tensions” in the region and said council members heard from a UN official about the “situation on the ground” and then “exchanged views” on the divisive issue.
After the meeting, senior Russian diplomat Dmitry Polyanskiy said the 15-nation body had discussed the contentious Indian-administered Kashmir, where New Delhi has been accused of abuses against its mostly-Muslim population.
“Russia firmly stands for the normalization of relations between India and Pakistan. We hope that differences between them will be settled through bilateral efforts based on the 1972 Simla Agreement and the 1999 Lahore Declaration,” he said.
China has long voiced concern over the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir, and said it supports Pakistan in its fight for the Kashmiris.
India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in part and claim the Himalayan region in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan that have fought two wars over the territory.
UN peacekeepers have been deployed since 1949 to observe a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Long-fraught relations between the two South Asian nuclear rivals flared up further after India scrapped the special provisions of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and imposed a near-complete lockdown on Aug. 5.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other major international campaign outfits have repeatedly called on India to lift restrictions, release political detainees and switch all telecommunications back on.
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