UN reignites Kashmir debate, India says
mind your business
Reacting to reports that the United Nations (UN) is available to
mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, New Delhi has said that Jammu
and Kashmir is an integral part of the country. The office of UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that "our good offices are available if both
sides (India and Pakistan) were to request" mediation. The comment was
made by acting deputy spokesperson for the Secretary General, Farhan Haq, who
is of Pakistani origin.
No role for UN
Haq
was responding to a question on whether the UN chief would propose to India to
sit down and talk with Pakistan and resolve the longstanding Kashmir issue.
South
Block insiders are sticking to India's stated position that there is no role
for the UN in the Kashmir issue. In fact, India had gone on record earlier
saying that the UN Military Observer Group on India and Pakistan should pack up
and leave.
Islamabad
has been insisting on a plebiscite in Kashmir, describing it as a nuclear flash
point and sees a role for the UN. India maintains that there is a
democratically elected government in place in Jammu and Kashmir and it has
respected the aspirations of the Kashmiri people through a credible electoral
process.
In
recent years, India has rejected possibilities of intervention by the UN in
settling issues, including Kashmir, with Pakistan. Islamabad, on the other
hand, has sought UN intervention and described the UN resolutions on the issue
as an "important framework" for settlement of the dispute.
Officials
told MAIL TODAY that while Haq may have got carried away in response to a
question, Ban, in his own dealing at the highest levels, had acknowledged that
the UN had little role to play. The world community has also largely ignored
Pakistan's attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue.
In
fact, Ban, in an exclusive interview to this newspaper, had stuck to a safe
stand, saying that both countries have maintained channels of communications on
the Kashmir issue. He had also said that the composite dialogue could have gone
faster than it is. Sources in the India foreign office say that mediation was a
non-starter as no Indian government will ever ask the UN to play a role on
Kashmir.
Interestingly,
this is not the first time Haq has got himself into a controversy on Kashmir.
In 2010, Haq was blamed for the remarks concerning the violence in Kashmir. An
e-mail containing controversial remarks was sent out by Haq to journalists of
three Pakistani publications who had been asking questions about Kashmir since
the unrest mounted after June 11, 2010, when a 17-year-old student died after
being hit by a teargas shell fired by the police during a demonstration in
Srinagar. Following protests by New Delhi, the UN backtracked from the
statement and described it as "media guidance".
Pakistan wants world powers to help solve row
Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser Sartaj Aziz (in pic) on Friday described
Kashmir as the "core issue" of Pakistan's relationship with India,
saying it should be "resolved according to the aspirations of Kashmiris
and with the intervention of world powers". Aziz, who advises Sharif on
foreign affairs and national security, said world powers should come forward
and play their role in resolving the issue.
Aziz
stated that Pakistan wants good relations with its neighbours to boost the
country's economy.
"The
government wants trade and not aid, as it believes only in trade. Improving the
economy is linked to peace in the region and the government is taking many
steps to maintain it," he said.
The
remarks came two days after Sharif invited India to engage in a comprehensive,
sustained and result-oriented dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir
issue.
- With PTI inputs
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-snubs-un-offer-to-mediate-between-india-and-pakistan-on-kashmir-issue/1/342436.html
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