Get ready for Kashmir rhetorical fire at UNGA

Get ready for Kashmir rhetorical fire between India and Pakistan at the forthcoming session of the UNGA. Pakistan has decided to highlight the Kashmir issue and India’s alleged interference in Pakistan at the United Nations and other international fora.

There is nothing unusual in Pakistan’s Kashmir pitch at the UN. Like previous years, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looks set to raise the issue at the 70^th session of the UNGA. “Pakistan will highlight the Kashmir issue at the UN and other fora as bilateralism envisaged in Shimla Agreement failed to achieve any progress,” Prime Minister’s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said.

Pakistan will also be presenting a dossier at the UN showing India’s alleged involvement in Pakistan. Unlike Pakistan’s case where India alleges non-state actors are involved, in India the state is directly involved in the interference of Pakistan, added Mr Aziz. After the recent cancellation of the NSA-level talks between the two countries, Pakistan will not insist on a meeting between the Prime Ministers and expects India to take the initiative in calling for talks.

Pakistan has also reiterated its position that, whenever there are talks on Kashmir, it will not entertain India objecting to a meeting between Pakistan and separatists, saying that the separatists are stakeholders in the dispute as well.

Conveying its concerns to the US, Pakistan has stressed that before getting into any defence cooperation with India it should weigh in the regional imbalances existing in the region.

The recent meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistan Rangers agreed to stick to the 2003 ceasefire agreement, but the ceasefire violations along the border continue to occur. Mr Aziz has once again blamed India for violating the ceasefire along the border, while India accuses Pakistan of having violated the agreement.

There seems to be no end to this sterile cycle of allegations and counter-allegations, jeopardizing prospects of normalization of relations between the two countries.

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