Lodhi asks UN chief to push India for complying with UNSC resolutions on Kashmir

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi Wednesday met a top aide of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and asked for the world body’s chief to play his due role in the crisis set off by India’s revocation of occupied Kashmir’s special status.

During her meeting with Chef de Cabinet Maria Louisa Ribeiro Viotti, the Pakistani envoy also asked for the UN chief, who is away from New York, to demand that India comply with UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir that prohibit any alteration in the status of the disputed state.

In a separate development, Guterres’ spokesman said that the UN was making contacts with the parties at “various levels’, but did not specify the level of those engagements.

Ambassador Lodhi, according to the sources, reminded Ms. Viotti about the fact that Kashmir remains on the Security Council’s agenda and called for India to halt and reverse its “unlawful and destabilizing actions” and ensure full compliance with UNSC resolutions.

India, she added, should also be refrained from any more steps that violate those resolutions and told to respect fundamental human rights in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In addition, she underscored the need for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry, as recommended by the two reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that exposed India’s rights abuses in occupied Kashmir.

She interacted with Britain’s UN Ambassador Karen Pierce and also met with several non-permanent members of the Security Council as she completed another hectic day.