With no end in sight to the Kashmir imbroglio, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for India and Pakistan to steps to defuse tensions.
“We obviously continue to follow the situation very closely in Jammu and Kashmir, (and) also reports of restrictions and detentions in the Indian-administered side of the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Dujarric was referring to largescale detentions and communication blockade that has since August 5 repeal of autonomous status for Jammu and Kashmir has paralyzed life in the Indian-administered area – a UN-recognized disputed territory. Pakistan also partly controls the territory.
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The spokesman’s comments came in response to a question at Tuesday’s briefing when he was asked about Monday’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Biarritz, France.
“The Secretary-General reiterates what he has been saying both publicly and privately to India and Pakistan to their leaders to exercise restraint and to take whatever steps they can to defuse tensions,” he added.
According to media accounts, the people are facing acute shortage of life-saving medicines, essential commodities including baby food as they remain in a lockdown.
The UN Security Council has passed 11 resolutions that, including grant of right to self-determination to the local people as a way toward resolution of the longstanding dispute that Pakistan says is an unfinished business on the 1947 freedom agenda.
