ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad has urged the UN Security Council to de-escalate Islamabad’s tensions with New Delhi by taking “timely action” and through preventive diplomacy amid fears of an armed conflict breaking out between the two neighbors.
A special UN Security Council session to discuss surging tensions between Pakistan and India was convened in New York on Monday at Islamabad’s request. The meeting took place as fears of a military confrontation between India and Pakistan loom after ties deteriorated last month following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.
India has accused Pakistan of backing the April 22 attack which took place in Pahalgam, a tourist spot in Indian-administered Kashmir. Islamabad has denied involvement and asked for evidence which New Delhi has so far not publicly shared. Both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, taken diplomatic measures against each other, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.
“We urge the Security Council and the [UN] secretary-general to remain actively engaged in peacemaking and preventive diplomacy,” Ahmad told reporters on Monday after the session ended.
“The role of the council is not just to observe conflict from afar but to prevent it through timely and principled action.”
The Pakistani envoy said peace must be built through dialogue, engagement and respect for international law, noting that India’s position reflected none of these.
India suspended the 1960 World Bank-mediated treaty a day after the Pahalgam attack, saying the suspension would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
Pakistan has described the move as an “act of war” and vowed to respond with full force to any attempts to divert or stop its water flow.
“The people of Pakistan will not stand by while their rights to water, to peace, to sovereignty are threatened,” Ahmad vowed.
UN CHIEF CALLS FOR ‘MAXIMUM RESTRAINT’
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday urged Pakistan and India to exercise “maximum restraint” amid fears of a military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Guterres told reporters in New York that Pakistan-India relations had reached “a boiling point,” condemning the April 22 attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice through “credible and lawful means.”
“It is also essential, especially at this critical hour, to avoid a military confrontation that could easily spin out of control,” he said. “Now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink. Make no mistake: a military solution is no solution.”
Separately, the OIC Group in New York, which represents the OIC’s interests and voice at the UN, expressed its “deep concern” over the situation in South Asia, exacerbated by India’s “unfounded allegations” against Pakistan, which it said were “inflaming tensions in an already volatile region.”
“The OIC Group reiterates its principled position against, and condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomsoever and wherever; and reaffirms its unequivocal rejection of all attempts to associate any country, race, religion, culture or nationality with terrorism,” it said in a statement.
The flare-up and exchanges of small arms fire between India and Pakistan across their de facto border in Kashmir has alarmed world and regional powers, who have called for restraint and urged the two neighbors to resolve the crisis through dialogue. Pakistan has assured foreign capitals and friendly nations that it would not be the first one to strike, according to officials.
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, a region split between them, since gaining independence from the former British colonial rule in 1947.
