About every September, Pakistan goes into an overdrive at the United Nations, routinely raking up the Kashmir issue. This time round, it has added a new dimension, sending a “complaint” to the UN Security Council, alleging that India was planning to build a wall along the line of Control in a bid to convert it into a “quasi international border”.
India has rubbished the “complaint” and said it would respond to it at the “appropriate time”. At the same time, an Indian official said one of the letters was based on a “submission” by a global terrorist -- Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.
On a day when Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly session, it transpired that Pakistan’s UN envoy Maleeha lodhi had sent two letters, dated September 4 and 9, to the Security Council, levelling allegations against India.
In her September 9 letter to president of the Security Council, Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin, lodhi is reported to have expressed “deep concern” at the purported India plan to construct a 10 metre-high and 135-feet-wide embankment (wall) along the 197-km boundary in Jammu & and Kashmir.
Speaking to reporters in New York, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said India was aware of the two letters.
“I believe the second letter (dated September 9) is based on some kind of submission made by Salahuddin, who is a person that we consider to be a global terrorist. At the appropriate time we will respond to this,” Swarup said.
As for the first letter claiming that there had been no bilateral dialogue, Swarup pointed out that the Border Security Force and Pak Rangers have already met. As such, lodhi’s letter is a self-contradiction.
Asked about the Indian response, Swarup commented: “If there is action taken by the UN we will respond appropriately. If there is no action taken by the UN then this will mean that nobody has taken cognizance.”
The lodhi missives apart, Pakistan has reportedly been planning to present to the UN a “dossier” against India, apart from Prime Minister Sharif possibly bringing up the Kashmir yet again when he addresses the UNGA on September 30.
lodhi, in her letter, contends that any embankment structure put up by India will create “a fait accompli aimed at permanently creating a physical and psychological barrier for the people of Jammu & Kashmir who are yet to exercise their right to self- determination, as enshrined in Security Council Resolutions”.
“Pakistan considers this an Indian effort aimed at converting the line of Control and the Working Boundary into a quasi international border. This is an unacceptable breach of UN Security Council Resolutions,” lodhi has asserted in her letter.