ISLAMABAD: Pakistan supports Ireland’s plea to be heard in the United Nations Security Council on the deteriorating situation in the British-administered Northern Ireland, reliable sources said today [Aug 20].

These sources said that the Security Council should listen to a member State on a request and if the majority favoured a debate on the issue raised, it should be put on the agenda. The Foreign Office here is in receipt of the letter circulated to member States by Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Dr Patrick J. Hillery, seeking Security Council support to halt what he called “terror” being unleashed against the Catholic minority in Ulster.

According to Press reports, Dr Hillery called on Mr Mohammed Younus, head of the Pakistani delegation, in New York on Monday [Aug 18] to urge for Pakistan backing to Ireland’s request for a meeting on the issue which is being strongly opposed by Britain.

The Irish representative to the United Nations, Mr Cornelius Cremin, on Monday demanded an urgent Security Council meeting to discuss the despatch of a UN peacekeeping force to Northern Ireland, where several days of fighting between militant Protestants and Catholics has left at least eight dead and 310 injured.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2019