Voicing concern over the deteriorating situation in Indian-held Kashmir, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands ready to mediate peace talks amid heightening tensions between India and Pakistan provided the two neighbors accept his good offices.
“Good offices is a standing offer,” Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a response to a question from a Pakistani journalist who referred to the ongoing clashes and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement in which he also blamed the news media for inflaming the situation.
But the spokesman said the secretary-general ‘s good offices works only when both parties agree to mediation.
Dujarric reminded journalists at the regular noon briefing that the UN chief had always encouraged direct talks between India and Pakistan for the resolution of their outstanding issues between the two countries.
The spokesman said that the UN chief regretted the loss of over two dozens lives in the clashes between protestors and security forces in Indian-held Kashmir and called for “maximum restraint.”
Kashmir is a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, as both claim it in entirety and have gone to two full scale wars over the dispute. This week the killing of a militant leader escalated tensions between the Muslim-majority population and the Indian security forces. The massive dragnet of Indian forces in the valley and other parts of Kashmir is widely seen as occupation of the UN-recognized disputed territory.
