Pakistan rakes up Kashmir issue again despite UN's refusal to mediate

Pakistan brought up the topic during a debate on the volatile situation in the Middle East.

United Nations: Pakistan on Friday raked up the Kashmir dispute yet again during a debate at the United Nations Security Council debate on the Middle East. 

Maleeha Lodhi, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, during the debate on the current volatile situation in the Middle East said: "Pakistan will continue to support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, as indeed, people living under foreign occupation elsewhere as for example in Kashmir."

"This esteemed body must live up to its responsibilities and ensure the implementation of its own resolutions on Palestine and other longstanding disputes such as Kashmir so that people of the world do not lose entire faith in the United Nations," she said. As usual, there were no takers for Lodhi's statement.

Her statement comes days after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had stated that the body will not mediate between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. The world body had encouraged India and Pakistan to address all their outstanding issues through dialogue.

India is opposed to any third-party intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue while Pakistan has continuously sought mediation to sort out the differences. 

Just last week at the UN meeting, India had lashed out at Pakistan for growing terrorism adding that the neighbouring country needs to change its "mindset" of differentiating between good and bad terrorists. Pakistan, on the other hand, had hit back raking up the issue of Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav. 

India had urged the UN Security Council to focus on challenges posed by terrorism emanating from the safe havens from across the border.

However, Lodhi raised the case of Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged spying. "Those who talk of changing mindset need to look within, at their own record of subversion against my country as our capture of an Indian spy has proven beyond doubt," Lodhi had said.

In the recent past, the ties between India and Pakistan have suffered a further hit due to a series of ceasefire violations that have been taking place along the Line of Control and International Border.