(TibetanReview.net, Aug17’19) – Pakistan got its Kashmir day at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Aug 16 thanks to its all-weather friend China’s help in dragging the issue there; but it concluded with Beijing having nothing to write Islamabad about it. No member, except China, reportedly felt the need to intervene in India’s internal affairs, reported Express News Service Aug 17.
The report said that while Russia, France and the UK reportedly supported India’s position, China said the situation in Jammu & Kashmir was of ‘utmost concern’. Russia’s UN representative described it as a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan where the UN has no role to play, the report added.
The outcome of the UNSC meeting was not announced through a statement as the consultations were informal. Neither India nor Pakistan attended the meeting, which was open to the five permanent and 10 non-permanent members.
China asked for “closed consultations” in the UNSC to discuss India’s Aug 5 decision to revoke the state’s special status after Pakistan, its all-weather friend, wrote to Poland, the current council president, about the issue.
The special status, granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution, was a temporary measure rather than a permanent feature of the Indian constitution.
The abrogation of Article 370 divides the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two centrally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. China’s main grouse was that India’s definition of Ladakh includes Aksai Chin, a high altitude desert plateau which is under its control. It accuses India of unilaterally changing the status of a territory on its borders.