'We just don’t need words, we need action,' Lodhi urges UN on Kashmir issue

NEW YORK: 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.

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.”

Ambassador Lodhi said Prime Minister Imran Khan was “absolutely right” in repeatedly warning that situation in Kashmir could turn into a bigger crisis. “This is a very fraught situation,” she said.

About UN secretary-general’s role, the Pakistani envoy said his offer to mediate the Kashmir dispute has repeatedly been rejected by India.

“So, where are we right now? India refuses to talk to Pakistan, India refuses to accept mediation whether it is mediation offered by President (Donald) Trump or it is offered by UN secretary-general, and India refuses to abide by it human rights commitments … This is a litany of no, no, no to everything except to repression, oppression , violations and acting with impunity which it’s occupation forces are doing in Kashmir.”

About the possibility of a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, she said that Islamabad does not wish to see any kind of conflict. Pakistan, she said, was a responsible nuclear weapon state.

“That is why we are urging the international community that it must step in before the bigger crisis. We do not wish to see a bigger crisis. There is a crisis that is going on now in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The crisis has affected the daily lives of men, women and children and before it gets out of hand, it’s important that the international community acts to prevent any bigger crisis.”

Asked whether India’s actions in Kashmir cøuld be compared to what Israel was doing in occupied Palestinian territories, she said that the India’s August 5 action seemed to be right out of the Israeli playbook and the way the Israelis have treated the people of Palestine.

“Both issues are about an occupied people and occupied territory. Both issues are among the oldest issues on the UN Security Council agenda. Both issues concern the lack of implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. And both issues are about the plight of the people who have been dispossessed, who have seen their liberty taken away from them in every possible way,” the Pakistani envoy said.

“So, I think when we talk about the people of occupied Kashmir, we must remember this is about people who are in deep distress, who are held prisoners in their own land, who are not free, whose children cannot go to school. One teenager lost his life today to pallet guns injuries. What you are looking at is a situation of deep distress.

“And I think the fact that Human Rights organizations – like Amnesty, like Human Rights Watch, like the Committee for the Protection of Journalists are all speaking out, they are calling out India’s outrageous behaviour and its cruelty to the people of Occupied Kashmir,” she added.