*GENEVA: *Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has warned that thesituation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) risked sparking an “accidentalwar”, and urged UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to visit the troubledregion.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council inGeneva, Qureshi said he believed both Pakistan and India “understand theconsequences of a conflict.”
But with tensions soaring since New Delhi revoked IOK’s autonomy lastmonth, he warned that “you cannot rule out an accidental war.”
“If the situation persists… then anything is possible,” Qureshi said.
India imposed a military clampdown on IOK from August 5 to prevent unrestas New Delhi revoked the occupied region’s autonomy. Mobile phone networksand the internet are still cut off in all but a few pockets.
Qureshi, who on Tuesday appealed to the Human Rights Council to launch aninternational investigation into the situation in IOK, told reporters hehad spoken with Bachelet and had invited her to visit both IOK and AzadKashmir.
“She should visit both places and report as objectively as she can so thatthe world knows what the true… situation is,” he said.
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The foreign minister said Bachelet had said she “was keen to visit”.
Qureshi, meanwhile, ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks to resolvethe tensions.
“In this environment and with the mind-set that we see in New Delhi today,I do not see any room for a bilateral engagement,” he said, adding that amultilateral forum or a third-party mediator would likely be needed.
“If the US plays a role, that can be important because they have aconsiderable influence” in the region, he said. -APP/AFP
