Active UN role on Kashmir sought: Pakistan condemns Indian missile tests
MUNICH, Feb 2: Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar called on Saturday for an upgraded United Nations role in Kashmir dispute and a bilateral anti-terrorist agreement with India.
“Allegations of infiltration across the Line of Control in Kashmir should be impartially verified by the UN observers group which could be strengthened,” said Sattar in a speech at the Munich International Security Conference.
He also suggested India and Pakistan discuss an accord to criminalize the use of their respective territories for terrorist attacks against each other.
Tensions between India and Pakistan are high and troops from both countries have exchanged fire across the LoC over the past days.
There were reports that Sattar would meet India’s National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra on the fringes of the conference in a bid to reduce tensions between their countries.
FLAYS INDIA: The foreign minister condemned India for conducting new missile tests, the second series in less than a week, saying the move was unwise and unwarranted.
“At a time when a spark can ignite a conflagration, the situation calls for exercise of restraint and responsibility,” he told the conference.
“India’s decision to test-fire two ballistic missiles was both unwise and unwarranted. It deserved international criticism and censure,” Sattar said.
He said: “Tension is dangerously high. Efforts of common friends to defuse the crisis have led to a certain political de-escalation. But the deployment of such large forces in close proximity has inherent dangers.”
The foreign minister further said: “A sagacious approach to a better future for people in South Asia as elsewhere is distilled in the principles of the UN Charter. To save people from the scourge of war, settlement of international disputes should be brought about by peaceful means of human civilization, which is measured by the extent to which society outlaws imposition of solutions by force, and ensures fair solutions of differences through negotiations, through impartial means, on the basis of equity.”
COALITION: Sattar said the horror of Sept 11 “shocked the world. The UN condemned the outrage. The world community was also galvanised. It agreed with President Bush: ‘It is time for action.’ A large number of states joined the coalition against terrorism.”
The coalition, he added, had been in action and its members were working together “urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these terrorist attacks.”—Agencies