Pakistan Foreign Minister Calls On UNSC To Hold Urgent Meeting On Kashmir - Letter

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2019) Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has requested that UN Security Council (UNSC) President Joanna Wronecka convene an urgent meeting to address the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Qureshi's letter to Wronecka seen by Sputnik.

"I wish to request that you convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council... to consider the situation arising from the recent aggressive actions by India which pose a threat to international peace and security, willfully undermine the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir, unilaterally aim to alter the demographic structure of the territory, and violate the fundamental human rights," the letter said on Tuesday.

Qureshi said that prior to the decision by India to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, an iron curtain had been imposed on the region accompanied by a curfew, cut-off of all communication services, numerous arrests of Kashmiri political leaders, closures of educational facilities and advises given to hospitals to "prepare for emergencies.

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According to Qureshi, since August 5, the occupied Jammu and Kashmir has seen even more human rights violations, including killings and injuries by Indian troops of scores of unarmed citizens who breached the imposed curfew.

"There is, furthermore, a clear and present danger that India will provoke another conflict with Pakistan to divert attention from its recent actions in occupied Jammu and Kashmir," the letter said.

On August 5, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind signed a decree removing Article 370 of the Indian constitution that had ensured Jammu and Kashmir's special status. Under the terms of the Indian government's new initiative, Jammu and Kashmir will be divided into two territories.