NEW YORK, Sep 09 (DNA): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations,
Maleeha Lodhi, has called for action on part of the UN, not just words,
to deal with the grave crisis stemming from India’s “illegal” annexation
of occupied Kashmir and to push for the implementation of the Security
Council resolutions that pledged the right of self-determination to the
Kashmiri people to decide their future.
In an interview with Consortium News, an independent American current
affairs television channel, she highlighted the gravity of the situation
in the disputed state where people have been suffering under a
repressive military lockdown for over a month, and urged UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to take steps to prevent a bigger
crisis in South Asia.
“What has happened in occupied Jammu and Kashmir is certainly a
flashpoint,” Ambassador Lodhi said, while noting that the
secretary-general and other UN officials have made statements in the
wake of the ongoing crisis that called for a settlement of the Kashmir
dispute through dialogue between India and Pakistan in accordance with
UN Security Council resolutions and Charter provisions.
“But we need action. We just don’t need words. We need action,” she said
emphatically.
“There are already tensions which are at a peak between India and
Pakistan and the situation can snowball into a much bigger crisis,” the
Pakistani envoy warned.
“So, I think, the UN certainly has long-standing obligations, and it
also has immediate obligations, including ending the human rights
violations that are going on.”
