NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 15 May 2003 — Pakistan raised the Kashmir issue in the UN Security Council during a debate on Tuesday but toned down the rhetoric, saying it did not want to jeopardize the current peace process with India.
Indian officials noted though Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri had raised the subject he had refrained from “harping” on it.
They welcomed the Pakistani decision as “forward looking,” but said it would have been best if Islamabad had not raised it at all when the peace moves initiated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee were under way.
Kasuri, who chaired the Security Council meeting by virtue of Pakistan being the current president of the council, raised the Kashmir issue during a debate on “Pacific Settlement of Issues.”
He said he would not like to say anything that would jeopardize the resumption of talks with India but noted that one of the earliest applications of Chapter VI of the UN Charter was on Kashmir.
“The Security Council adopted a resolution which promises a free and fair plebiscite under UN auspices to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their future,” he said.
He sought the support of the international community, especially the UN Security Council and the UN secretary-general, for the fresh peace endeavor by India and Pakistan.
He said the initiatives taken by the prime ministers of India and Pakistan to reduce tension in South Asia were a reversal of the negative trends of the recent past.
Indian diplomats in the UN have been working overtime with other council members to ensure that Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the council, did not “hijack” the debates to raise the issue after it became the rotational president of the council in early May for a two-month period.
Meanwhile, stressing that peace in the region would work to the advantage of India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said it is time the two countries engaged themselves in a free and frank dialogue.
Either “we will convince them (New Delhi) or get convinced” on the manner in which peace has to be achieved, media reports quoted him as saying yesterday.
“I hope (a thaw in India-Pakistan relations) would lead to a better future for the two countries as well as the entire region,” The News quoted Jamali as saying Tuesday at the inaugural session of the three-day Pakistan Development Forum (PDF) in Islamabad. “We’ll either convince India or get convinced,” he said.
“After 18 months of stalemate both the countries have started talking with a positive approach. I hope it would be better for the future of the two countries and the region,” Jamali said, according to the Daily Times.
Jamali said when he talked to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this month, his emphasis was on the economy.
Economic challenges, like issues linked to the World Trade Organization regime, remained the same for both the countries, he said. “We do not want to change (history) by wars, but by changing the political culture,” the prime minister said, maintaining that politics had to give way to economics.
India and Pakistan are trying to mend their frosty ties after Vajpayee last month extended a “hand of friendship” to Islamabad, sparking off events that could lead to another summit between the heads of the two South Asian rivals.
India and Pakistan have regularly engaged in heated exchanges in the UN and other international forums over Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory, two-thirds of which is controlled by India and the rest by Pakistan. The Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir has been the scene of bloody uprising since 1989.
Kasuri’s restraint came as the current peace moves gained momentum with India Tuesday announcing the appointment of a new high commissioner to Pakistan after a gap of nearly 18 months.
There have also been news reports that Pakistan was taking steps to disarm militants, who operate in Jammu and Kashmir from areas controlled by it.
Indian officials said that none of the other 14 members of the council or UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan referred to the Jammu and Kashmir issue in their statements. Taking the cue, Kasuri too refrained from referring to the Kashmir issue in his summary at the end of the debate.
The officials interpreted it as recognition on the part of everyone, including the five permanent members of the council, that the best way to address the problem was through the established bilateral mechanism.
“I think in an overall balance it is forward looking,” a senior External Affairs Ministry official in New Delhi told IANS about Pakistan’s decision to observe restraint on the Kashmir issue.
“They seem to have taken into account the reality of the situation now and that the best way to resolve the issue is bilaterally,” he said.
But it would have been still better if Pakistan had not raised the issue at all, particularly when both countries are moving toward dialogue to resolve all outstanding issue, he added.
