UN Security Council to meet on Kashmir today
December 17, 2019
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.
The meeting has been requested by China, Pakistan’s ally, for the second time this year. Last time the council met and debated the issue in August, after India revoked Article 370, ending the autonomy granted to the disputed Kashmir valley.
“In view of the seriousness of the situation and the risk of further escalation, China would like to echo the request of Pakistan, and request a briefing of the Council ... on the situation of Jammu and Kashmir,” China’s UN mission wrote in a note to council members, reports Reuters.
For over four months today, the Himalayan region has been under lockdown, after India scrapped the special status granted to the Muslim-majority area.
In 1948 and 1950, the UN Security Council adopted several resolutions on Kashmir, including one which calls for a plebiscite to determine the future of the valley.
In August this year, members of the UNSC met for the first time in over five decades to discuss the critical situation in the occupied valley, urging parties to the dispute to refrain from taking any unilateral action.
The UNSC met behind closed doors at the request of China and Pakistan to discuss the Indian government's recent decision to revoke the special status of occupied Kashmir.
Maleeha Lodhi, the then Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations had welcomed the UNSC meeting and said the country 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," she said, speaking to reporters after the meeting.
"I think this meeting nullifies that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter for India," Lodhi had added.
