UNSC meeting testimony to the fact that Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute Maleeha Lodhi

By:  Amir Makhani & Zahid Akhtar 

New York: Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir may be locked up, with their voices not being ‘heard in their own land’ she said Stating that Pakistan stands ready for a peaceful settlement, Lodhi added that Islamabad’s efforts will only end when justice is delivered to people of Jammu and Kashmir she said The consultative meeting was held by the UNSC to discuss the Kashmir issue, which has taken a turn for the worse following the abrogation of Article 370. Maliha lodhi said The meeting was called after China backed Pakistan’s request to discuss the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir at the UNSC.

While a closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Friday ended, Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir may be locked up, with their voices not being “heard in their own land”.

Following a consultative meeting held by the UNSC to discuss the Kashmir issue, which has taken a turn for the worse following the abrogation of Article 370, Lodhi said the people from the troubled state were heard at the UN.

“We stand ready for a peaceful settlement of the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir. This meeting nullifies India’s claim that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter. The whole world is discussing the occupied state,” she said.

Lodhi said Pakistan was “grateful to China for calling this meeting”.

“The voice of the Kashmiri people have been heard today. The fact that this meeting took place is testimony to the fact that this is an internationally recognised dispute. This meeting has reaffirmed the validity of the UNSC resolutions on the status of Jammu and Kashmir,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi told reporters after the meeting.

“This meeting nullifies that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter for India.”

She said the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had conveyed that this was “the first step that we (Pakistan) have taken on behalf of the people of Jammu and Kashmir…the first but not the last step”.

The council had taken up the issue of the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir after more than 50 years since it was last discussed on the platform, effectively rejecting India’s stance that Occupied Kashmir was an internal issue and not an internationally recognised dispute.