KASHMIR PAK’S ONETRICK PONY, NO RESONANCE AT UN, SAYS INDIA
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: India will be ready for Pakistan’s “one-trick pony” act at the UN – raising the bogey of Kashmir – as it seeks to call attention to pressing issues of global significance such as enhanced multilateralism and action on climate change.
Reeling from the Indian decision to call off a New York meeting of the foreign ministers of the two sides, Pakistan is expected to complain bitterly at the UN and raise Kashmir forcefully, as well as at several multilateral forums and meetings on the sidelines.
India considers the UN a multilateral forum for deliberating multilateral issues, and not bilateral problems. “Single-act plays (as enacted by Pakistan) have no resonance” in these forums, India’s permanent representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, told reporters on Sunday, effectively firing the first shot in a battle that has become the chief UN General Assembly attraction for South Asia.
If “somebody else would like to be a one-trick pony, it is for them to regurgitate and act,” he said, in a reference to past attempts by Pakistan to lobby the world body on Kashmir. He was responding to a question about Pakistan’s reported plans to raise Kashmir at the UN against the backdrop of the cancelled meeting of foreign ministers Sushma Swaraj and Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Pakistani officials said the highlight of Qureshi’s visit will be his speech at the General Assembly on September 29, during which he will speak on the new government’s priorities and its position on issues, including Kashmir, particularly in the aftermath of the UN’s report on rights violations. India has described the report as a compilation of “largely unverified information” and said it violates the country’s sovereignty and integrity. The Pakistani delegation will highlight what it calls “Indian interference”.
The other key challenge is US President Donald Trump’s lack of interest in the UN and his proposed cuts in funding for the world body that will make it impossible to continue with its operations.