'Pakistan Has Choice To Avoid Global Embarrassment': India On UNSC Close Door Meet On Kashmir

When China brought up the Kashmir issue at a consultation of the Security Council, it was met with a push back led by the other permanent members who said it was a bilateral issue and not a matter for them, isolating Beijing in the 15-member body.

India's condition for dealing with Pakistan is that it stops cross-border terrorism. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: Calling it a misuse of platform, India on Thursday condemned Pakistan's effort to raise Jammu and Kashmir issue at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) close door meeting held on Wednesday night. Speaking to reporters, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that "Attempt was made by Pakistan, through a UNSC member, to misuse the platform. Overwhelming majority of UNSC was of view that Security Council was not the right forum for such issues and it should be discussed bilaterally." According to diplomatic sources, when China brought up the Kashmir issue at a consultation of the Security Council, it was met with a push back led by the other permanent members who said it was a bilateral issue and not a matter for them, isolating Beijing in the 15-member body. Especially the US and France took a strong a stand and Britain, which waffled at the last Kashmir consultation in August 2019, joined them on Wednesday in taking a strong position against Council interference, sources informed. Russia also joined the three Western nations, which was a rare instance in recent days. China's Permanent Representative Zhang Jun and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi later acknowledged the fact that the Kashmir dispute was a bilateral issue had prevailed in Council. "The informal closed door meeting concluded without any outcome. Pakistan's desperate measures to peddle baseless allegation, and present and alarming scenario, it lacked any credibility," Kumar said adding that a laud and clear message was sent to Pakistan once again. "We hope the message has gone loud and clear to Islamabad that if at all there's any matter between India and Pakistan that needs to be discussed, it should be done bilaterally. Pakistan has a choice to avoid this global embarrassment by refraining from such acts in future," he said. Hitting out at China for pushing Pakistan's agenda on an international podium, Kumar said that China should seriously reflect on this global consensus, draw the proper lessons and refrain from taking such action in the future. According to reports, the closed-door meeting was held in a consultation room away from the stately Council chamber. Zhang had cited a letter from Pakistan's Qureshi to the Council to create a sense of urgency. WATCH | Jolt To Pakistan as UNSC Declines Discussion On Kashmir Issue Qureshi alleged that India had removed parts of the fence on the Line of Control (LoC) in five sectors and deployed Brahmos, and anti-tank and other missiles along the line. After the claims failed to move the Council, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin said: "We are happy that neither the alarmist scenario painted by the representatives of Pakistan nor any of the baseless allegations made repeatedly by representatives of Pakistan in UN fora were found to be credible today." The sources said that one of the proposals China made was to reconsider the mandate of the UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UMOGIP) to get it to take on a more active role. It was however, rejected out of hand by the others. UNMOGIP that monitors the LoC is a relic of the 1940s. India has said that it was no longer relevant and should be scrapped. Virtually all the 15 members of the Council said that while there was a need to deescalate the situation, it had to be resolved bilaterally, the sources said. India's condition for dealing with Pakistan is that it stops cross-border terrorism. This was China's third attempt to bring up the Kashmir issue before the Council. It first brought up during the consultations last August, which ended like today with nothing to show for it. China had tried to bring up the Kashmir issue against last month, but backed out at the last moment when it found no support at all. A diplomatic source said that China had hoped that with the Security Council's composition changing in January when five non-permanent members retired and were replaced by a fresh set it would get some traction. But it did not work out. (With inputs from agencies)