UNITED NATIONS: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Pakistan on Saturday to engage with India in a ‘serious dialogue’ but asked his Pakistani counterpart not to use the UN General Assembly for raising the Kashmir issue.

He also seemed to attach a precondition for the resumption of bilateral talks — that it should be held in an atmosphere “without the shadow of terrorism”.

In his first speech at the UN General Assembly, Mr Modi focused on presenting India as an emerging power, ready to play its role on the international stage.

Without making a direct reference to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech on Friday in which he had insisted on a plebiscite in Kashmir, Mr Modi said: “Raising issues in this forum is not the way to make progress towards resolving issues.”

In his speech at the assembly, Mr Sharif had also described Kashmir as the “core issue”, which needed to be resolved to bring peace to South Asia. He had also blamed India for the cancellation of foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries last month.


Indian PM takes exception to raising of Kashmir issue by Sharif at UN


The Indian leader told the international community that India placed the highest priority on advancing friendship and cooperation with its neighbours, including Pakistan.

“A nation’s destiny is linked to its neighbourhood. That’s why my government has placed the highest priority on advancing friendship and cooperation with her neighbours,” he said, speaking in chaste Hindi.

Mr Modi declared: “I am prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism, to promote our friendship and cooperation.”

But to do so, he said, “Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate environment.”

Mr Modi said that instead of discussing issues like Kashmir inside the United Nations, “we should be thinking about the victims of floods in Jammu and Kashmir”.

He said India had organised “massive” flood relief operations in parts of Kashmir held by it and had also offered assistance to Pakistan to help the victims on the other side of Line of Control.

One reason why the Indian prime minister avoided making a direct reference to Mr Sharif’s speech was that India had already responded to it earlier on Saturday.

In a “right to reply” statement, India said the Pakistani prime minister’s remarks were “untenable”.

Speaking on the floor of the General Assembly, an Indian official, Abhishek Singh, said: “The people of Jammu and Kashmir have peacefully chosen their destiny in accordance with the universally accepted democratic principles and practices and they continue to do so.”

India, he said, “reject(s) in their entirety the untenable comments of the distinguished delegate of Pakistan”.

For its part, the Pakistani government brushed aside Mr Modi’s suggestion that Mr Sharif should not have raised the Kashmir issue at the UN and said a Security Council resolution had guaranteed the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir, which could not be taken away from them.

The resolution also authorised Pakistan to raise the issue at the UN, the statement said.

In his speech, Prime Minister Modi also addressed the issue of terrorism and said that South Asia continued to face the “destabilising threat of terrorism”.

“Are we really making concerted international efforts to fight these forces, or are we still hobbled by our politics, our territory or use terrorism as instruments of policy?” he asked.

Mr Modi said he was witnessing a surge of democracy in South Asia, including Afghanistan, which was “at a historic moment of democratic transition and affirmation of unity”.

Afghans, he said, were showing that their “desire for a peaceful and democratic future will prevail over violence.”

While Mr Modi was addressing the General Assembly, hundreds of Kashmiris, Sikhs and Indian Muslims were protesting outside the UN building against his alleged role in the Gujarat massacre.

Published in Dawn, September 28th , 2014

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