Without naming any country, the minister was responding to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari when he (Mr Bhutto) unceremoniously raked up the issue of Kashmir
New York: In a sharp rebuttal External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar slammed a neighboring state for bringing up the Kashmir issue during a UN meeting in New York on multilateralism, a report in The Tribune, Chandigarh.
Without naming any country, the minister was responding to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari when he (Mr Bhutto) unceremoniously raked up the issue of Kashmir.
Speaking in his national capacity, Jaishankar said the credibility of the UN depends on its effective response to the key challenges of our time be it pandemic, climate change, conflicts or terrorism.
He continued saying, “while searching for solutions, our discourse must never accept the normalisation of such threats. The question of justifying what the world regards as unacceptable should not even arise.”
“That certainly applies to state sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Nor can hosting Osama Bin Laden and attacking a neighbouring Parliament serves as credentials to sermonise before this council,” he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
Jaishankar’s remarks came after Bhutto raked up the issue of Kashmir during a meeting convened to discuss the new orientation for reformed multilateralism (NORM) under India’s December presidency of UNSC.
Pakistan foreign minister said the UN Security Council (UNSC) is primarily responsible for maintaining international peace and security.
“That certainly applies to state sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Nor can hosting Osama Bin Laden and attacking a neighbouring Parliament serves as credentials to sermonise before this council,” he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
“Multilateral solutions under the umbrella of the security council offer the most effective approach to promoting peace and resolving conflicts. Parties to a dispute can not advocate multilateral process one day, multilateral reforms one day and insist on bilateral avenues the next and ultimately impose unilateral actions,” he said in a reference to Jammu and Kashmir without naming them.
“Multilateralism should be based on universal and consistent adherence to the UN charter,” he added.
Amidst calls for India’s inclusion in Security Council Bhutto said “Adding new permanent members to UNSC will numerically reduce the opportunities for the vast majority of the UN member states to be present on the Security Council. We must adhere to sovereign equality of all, not superiority of some.”
This is not the first time Pakistan has used the UN forum to discuss its bilateral issues.
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