Published 11:40 IST, January 16th 2020
Scuppered again: China-Pak's attempt to raise Kashmir at UNSC fails, members back India
In a closed-door meeting of the UNSC in New York, China raised the issue of Kashmir but was the only country that passed any comments on the same.
China on Wednesday tried once again to discuss 'the Kashmir issue' during a closed-door meeting that was held in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in New York, in another apparent attempt to peddle 'all-weather friend' Pakistan's narrative. However, India's neighbors failed to achieve their goals, with Russia and France upholding the Kashmir dispute as a bilateral one.
China fails again
India, once again, criticised the efforts by Pakistan to raise Kashmir in the UNSC, where it failed to get any support. Earlier on Wednesday, China made the fresh pitch to raise the Kashmir issue under "other matters" during closed consultations in the Security Council Consultations Room.
France, Germany, and Russia have all stated that Kashmir is India's internal issue and have, on multiple occasions refrained from invitations to intervene. They have gone on to state that any issue between India and Pakistan should be solved bilaterally through dialogue.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, speaking to PTI said: "We once again saw an effort made by one member state of the UN, fail in plain view of all others. We are happy that neither alarmist scenario painted by the representatives of Pakistan nor any of the baseless allegations made repeatedly by representatives of Pakistan in the UN fora were found to be credible today. We are glad that the effort was viewed as a distraction and it was pointed by many friends that bilateral mechanisms are available to raise and address issues that Pakistan may have in its ties with India."
This was China's second attempt at the UN to raise Kashmir at UNSC, and it once again failed to start the dialogue which it would have hoped for. In other news related to UNSC, Estonia Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday where he conveyed his country's support for India's candidature for the non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2021-22. Russia, meanwhile, has once again backed India for permanent UNSC membership.
Updated 11:40 IST, January 16th 2020