UNITED NATIONS, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General of World Kashmir Awareness forum, a Washington-based advocacy body, has criticized as “factually and legally wrong” a statement by the Indian Ambassador to the United Nations, T S Tirumurti, that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and that issues related to the state were internal matters of his country.
Ambassador Tirumurti made that claim in response to questions at a press conference he addressed at UN Headquarters in New York in his capacity as president of the UN Security Council for the month of August.
Under all international agreements, accepted by both India and Pakistan, that were negotiated by the United Nations and endorsed by the Security Council, Dr Fai said Kashmir, as a a disputed territory, does not belong to any State and as such the Indian envoy’s claim of “internal matters” does not stand.
In this regard, Dr Fai reminded Ambassador Tirumurti of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ statement of August 8, 2019 that “The position of the United Nations on this region (Kashmir) is governed by the Charter of the United Nations and applicable Security Council resolutions.”
He called for the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite to settle the Kashmir dispute as envisaged in UN Security Council resolutions.
Fai said that it was not the inherent difficulties of a solution, but the lack of the political will of the world powers to resolve the issue that had caused the prolonged deadlock over the Kashmir dispute.
“The deadlock has meant indescribable agony for the people of Kashmir and incalculable loss for both India and Pakistan,” he said, adding that a solution must be found as soon as possible.
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