Pak's attempts to involve UN in J-K issue has not 'borne fruit': Indian envoy to UN

By Reena Bhardwaj
New York [US], Aug 4 : Pakistan's attempts to involve the United Nations in the context of Jammu and Kashmir has not "borne fruit" and has been strongly refuted by India at every turn, said TS Tirumurti, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
In an interview to ANI, TS Tirumurti on Monday (local time) said that Pakistan's efforts to rake up Kashmir issue internationally fell flat as no formal meeting of the Security Council on the India-Pakistan issue has taken place since November 1965 and in closed-door meetings, recently held every country, except China, underlined that fact that Kashmir is the bilateral issue between New Delhi and Islamabad.
"Attempts by Pakistan to try and internationalise what is essentially a bilateral issue are nothing new. Contrary to what the Foreign Minister of Pakistan has asserted. There has been no formal meeting of the Security Council on the India Pakistan issue since November 1965. What came up recently was in a closed-door and completely informally meeting. Under what is called, any other business, which is not even a recorded discussion," he said.
"There was no outcome in the meeting but what is interesting is that in the Security Council. Practically every country, except for China, underlined the fact that this was a bilateral issue to be dealt with bilaterally between India and Pakistan. Therefore Pakistan's attempt fell flat," he added.
Asserting that Pakistan efforts have not met any traction in United Security Council, the ambassador said: "Even the United Nations Secretary-General, in his statement last August. Clearly referred to the 1972 bilateral Shimla agreement. Consequently, Pakistan's efforts have not met any traction in the United Nations Security. Even if Pakistan persists, There are no takers here in the United Nations."
"I want to reassure you that the attempt by Pakistan to involve the United Nations in the context of Jammu and Kashmir, has not borne fruit and has been strongly refuted by India at every turn. We will continue to counter their moves in the future as well," he further said.
Last month, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi raised the issue Jammu and Kashmir in his address to the High-Level Segment of UN ECOSOC titled 'Multilateralism after COVID 19:what kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary?'
Pakistan has been using various UN fora to raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir ever since India passed the law in Parliament to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status under the constitution and turn the state into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh last year in August.
Islamabad has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India on the matter.
India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter.