South Asian nuclear nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and should “come together and seriously discuss their problems” around the Kashmir dispute.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored this while also offering the world body’s mediation to resolve the longstanding conflict – experts say is at the heart of regional tensions.
Tensions have been running high between Pakistan and India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing government unilaterally changed the constitutional status of the territory under Indian control on August 5, 2019.
Guterres, while responding to a question at his first press conference of 2021, said cautioned the parties that there was no “military solution” to the decades-old conflict – that has also been on the UN agenda for seven decades.
The UN chief observed that things have not moved in the right direction in 2019 – when the Himalayan region was forced into a lockdown, making life miserable for the people of Kashmir with the abrogation of basic freedoms.
A group of Kashmiri-Americans protesting outside the White House
August 10, 2019
Image Credit: Views and News
“It is clear when seeing Pakistan and India, any military confrontation between the two would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions for both countries and for the whole world,” he warned.
“I do believe that is absolutely essential to have a de-escalation of the situation, namely in the Line of Control” in the disputed Kashmir region, Guterres said.
“I think it’s absolutely essential for the two countries to be able to come together and seriously discuss their problems.”
“I think it’s essential that human rights are fully respected in all territories that you mentioned,” referring to the question in which the correspondent highlighted the continuing rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir.
He said he stood by his statement of Aug. 8, 2019, which called for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute based on UN resolutions and the UN Charter.
“Now, things have not moved in the right direction, our good offices are always available, and we will insist within it of finding peaceful solutions for problems that have no military solution.”
