TEHRAN – Winning over the UN Security Council in Islamabad’s row with NewDelhi over Kashmir’s recently revoked autonomy is a long shot, PakistaniForeign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, while calling for “a newstruggle”.
No one in the Security Council is waiting on Pakistan “with garlands”,Qureshi told the media during a press conference in the city ofMuzaffarabad, located in the part of the disputed region controlled byPakistan, RT reported.
Any one of the permanent members of the UNSC can be a “hurdle” to gainingbroad international support for Islamabad’s cause, he said, adding thatPakistanis should not live “in a fool’s paradise”.
He also stated that even the Islamic world might not be united in itssupport for Pakistan, as India has simply become too lucrative a market tobe shunned for a political cause.
“India is a market of over a billion people,” the foreign minister said,adding that “the guardians of Ummah [an Arabic word commonly used todescribed the Islamic world] have also made investments there and they havetheir own interests”.
“Venting emotions is easy and raising objections is even easier,” Qureshisaid.
However, it is difficult to understand the issue and move forward, he addedin what might sound like call for Pakistan to tone down its rhetoric.
Yet, he also called on the nation to “wage a new struggle” to gaininternational support for restoring Kashmir’s autonomy.
The Pakistan FM has requested that UN Security Council (UNSC) PresidentJoanna Wronecka convene an urgent meeting to address the human rightssituation in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Qureshi’s letter to Wroneckaseen by Sputnik.
Last week, India revoked the self-governing status of the Muslim-majorityJammu and Kashmir, the part of disputed Kashmir that India has beencontrolling since the late 1940s. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued that the move would allow theregion to eventually be integrated into India and thus give a boost to itseconomy and infrastructure while helping to combat local insurgent groups.
New Delhi’s decision was met with widespread outrage in Pakistan, whichconsiders the whole of Kashmir its territory. Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan even compared the international silence over the revocation ofKashmir’s autonomy to the policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler before WWII.
Islamabad has downgraded its diplomatic relations with New Delhi while alsosevering economic ties and railway services. Now, it is gearing up to seeksupport in the UN Security Council.