Pakistan says objectives 'largely achieved' in closed-door UNSC meeting to discuss India tensions

The UN Security Council has held a closed-door meeting called by  Pakistan — currently a non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation Council — which is locked in a war-like tension with India following a deadly Kashmir attack and New Delhi’s suspension of key water treaty with Islamabad.

Pakistan's envoy to the UN, Asim Iftikhar, told media late on Monday that his country’s objectives were "largely served and achieved."

"Several [council] members recognised the imperative of peacefully resolving all issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people," Iftikhar said.

"There was also a clear sense that regional stability cannot be sustained through unilateralism, it requires principled diplomacy, engagement and adherence to international law."

India has yet to respond to the UNSC meeting.

'Water is life not a weapon'

Tensions flared in the wake of the April 22 murder of 26 people, most of them Indian Hindu tourists, in the town of Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir, which India blames on Pakistan, without providing any evidence. 

Islamabad denies the accusation and demands a neutral probe.

India has vowed to block "every drop of water" flowing down to lower riparian Pakistan by suspending 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

Islamabad, which says stopping water to millions of its people constitutes "an act of war", has put its military on high alert, especially after Cabinet Minister Attaullah Tarar cited intelligence indicating that India could impose war anytime soon.

Pakistan said it has filed a complaint at UNSC over India's suspension of IWT.

"We raised alarm over India's unilateral suspension of the Indus waters treaty, a legally binding accord brokered by the world bank and upheld during wars," Iftikhar said.

"Water is life not a weapon. These rivers sustain over 240 million Pakistani's any attempt to disrupt their flow constitutes aggression and allowing such a precedent would endanger every lower riparian state," Iftikhar added.

Iftikhar stated the UNSC was reminded the Kashmir dispute is a key factor in South Asia's instability.

"The Kashmiri people continue to face gross human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, demolition of homes — that we are seeing now — restrictions on expression and media and a systematic denial of their right to self-determination," he said.

India's 'unfounded allegations' against Pakistan

Ahead of the UNSC meeting, Pakistan received a boost from the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation [or OIC], which declared that India's "unfounded allegations against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan" was a key factor inflaming tensions in South Asia.

The OIC also called for settling the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions, which advocate a plebiscite in the Muslim-majority region, split between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming it in its entirety.

The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region and their ties have been shaped by conflict, aggressive diplomacy and mutual suspicion, mostly because of their competing claims over Kashmir.

Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the idea of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly Kashmiri civilians, have been killed in the disputed region, where India has deployed approximately 500,000 troops.

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Source: TRT