Islamabad, September 21, 2022 (PPI-OT):Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urges UN Secretary-General to persuade India to reverse its unilateral measures and agree to promote an equitable solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
He was speaking at the 12th Ministerial Meeting of the UN Group of Friends of Mediation co-chaired by Turkiye and Finland in New York on Wednesday. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the UN Security Council should give full support to the Secretary- General in using his good offices to this end.
He said the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest issues on the agenda of the Council. At the outset, the Security Council decided that “the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations”.
The Pakistan Foreign Minister said unfortunately, over the last seven decades, India obstructed the efforts of the UN mechanisms to implement the Security Council’s resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir. The continuation of India’s illegal actions was manifested in the unilateral measures taken on and since 5 August 2019 to annex the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir without even the fig leaf of legal justification or plebiscite.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the Secretary General’s repeated calls for a ‘surge in diplomacy’ for peace is both urgent and important. He said such a surge of diplomacy must emanate from the United Nations.
He said Pakistan also commends the UN Secretary General and President Erdogan of Turkiye for successfully mediating the landmark Black Sea Grain Initiative. In the end, he said that Pakistan is a proud member of the Group of Friends of Mediation and he would like to thank the Chairs and all the members of the Group for their work.
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