Beijing rakes up J& issue at UNSC again

SPOTLIGHT Move being seen as bid to disrupt India’s success after envoys’ visit to Kashmir

NEW DELHI: China and Pakistan are trying, for the third time, to raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, in part to embarrass India on the international stage and, in part, to stoke fires in Kashmir Valley, according to officials aware of the development who said the efforts had been thwarted by India’s diplomatic allies who left Beijing isolated.

The attempts were through a fresh letter by Islamabad to Vietnam (which holds the presidency of the UNSC for this month) and an attempt by Beijing to put Kashmir as a topic of discussion during an informal meeting scheduled for Wednesday night. The efforts were meant to revive the failed December 2019 bid to raise Kashmir at the UNSC.

The UNSC did not take up a Pakistani letter last month after India pushed back strongly with the help of its friends in the council, particularly France and United States.

According to South Block officials, the Chinese-pakistani twin-pronged plan was meant to set the stage for Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood

Qureshi to raise the use at the UN on Wednesday. Instead, hours before the Qureshi’s arrival, the plan unraveled with India’s allies saying they will stick to their stand that Kashmir is a bilateral issue.

“France has noted the request of a UNSC member to raise the Kashmir issue once again in the powerful body and it is going to oppose it like it did on a previous occasion,” a French diplomat told HT.

Under the garb of peace in West Asia, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has tasked his foreign minister Qureshi to visit US this month while army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa is seeking support from West Asian friends such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The latest move, according to Kashmir watchers in New Delhi, is an attempt to disrupt recent Indian successes in Kashmir including the visit of foreign envoys and rise of new political formations that is beyond the Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah families.

From October 28 to November 1, 2019, 27 Members of European Parliament belonging to different parties visited Kashmir to