Kashmir Map by CIA being used via Wikimedia Commons
Amid heightened South Asian tensions, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has told the United Nations that India is perpetrating state-sponsored terror against Pakistan including from acorss the Afghan border and asked the world body to appoint a special envoy for resolution of the Jammu and Kahmir dispute.
The prime minister spoke hours after reports said that Indian shelling killed six civilians including four women in Sialkot on the eastern border. Pakistan said India opened unprovoked firing.
At the United Nations, Abbasi sought expeditious steps towards the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Kashmir for a just and peaceful settlement of the conflict as New Delhi has closed doors on negotiations.
India and Pakistan regularly trade allegations of sponsoring terror on their soils.
But PM Abbasi said it is India’s tactic that it levels allegations against Pakistan.
“To divert the world’s attention from its brutalities in Kashmir, India frequently violates the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir,” he said.
Despite over 600 violations since January this year Pakistan has acted with restraint.
“But if India does venture across the LoC, or acts upon its doctrine of “limited” war against Pakistan, it will evoke a strong and matching response,” he said.
The international community must act decisively to prevent the situation from a dangerous escalation.
“The international community must act decisively to prevent the situation from a dangerous escalation,” Abbasi told the UN General Assembly.
He informed the world leaders that India remains engaged in a campaign of persecution of the unarmed Kashmiri people, struggling for their right to self-determination.
“Shotgun pellets have blinded and maimed thousands of Kashmiris including children. These and other brutalities clearly constitute war crimes and violate the Geneva Conventions.
On Afghanistan, he said apart from the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and its people have suffered the most from four decades of foreign intervention and civil wars in Afghanistan.
He laid out specific areas for progress toward Afghan stability.
“From 16 years of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, it is clear that peace will not be restored by the continuing resort to military force. Neither Kabul and the Coalition, nor the Afghan Taliban, can impose a military solution on each other. The international community – as expressed in several United Nations resolutions – has concluded that peace can be restored in Afghanistan only through a negotiated settlement.”
“Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counter terrorism campaign it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan.
“We are not prepared to be anyone’s scapegoat. Taliban “safe havens” are located not in Pakistan but in the large tracts of territory controlled by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“Yes, cross border attacks do occur. These are mostly conducted by anti-Pakistan terrorists from “safe havens” across the border. To end all cross border attacks we ask the Afghan government and the Coalition to support and complement Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to strengthen border controls and monitor all movement across it.
“What Pakistan is not prepared to do is to fight the Afghan war on Pakistan’s soil. Nor can we endorse any failed strategy that will prolong and intensify the suffering of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan and other regional countries.
“Pakistan believes that the urgent and realistic goals in Afghanistan should be: One, concerted action to eliminate the presence in Afghanistan of Daesh, Al-Qaeda and their affiliates including the TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which was recently declared a terrorist organization by the Security Council.”
Two, promote negotiations between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban – in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) or any trilateral format – to evolve a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan.
“These two steps offer the most realistic prospect of restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan and our region.”
The prime minister’s speech centered around threats the country faces from both the Indian and Afghan borders.
Islamabad, Abbasi said, stands for peaceful relations with its neighbors and remains open to resuming a comprehensive dialogue with India to address all outstanding issues, especially Kashmir and discuss measures to maintain peace and security.
However, he added that “this dialogue must be accompanied by an end to India’s campaign of subversion and state sponsored terrorism against Pakistan, including from across our western border.”
