UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday reiterated the world body’s position on the Kashmir dispute that it should be resolved on the basis of the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions, and bilateral agreements between India and Pakistan, with the hope that human rights will be respected in the disputed territory.
“Well, the position of the UN … when the resolutions that were taken … remains the same,” he said in reply to a question from APP correspondent, who reminded him of the statement he made on August 8, 2019, at his first press conference in the new year as he began his second term as the UN chief.
The secretary-general pointed out that the United Nations has a peacekeeping operation in Kashmir — the UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the Line of Control in the disputed region.
He said he had offered his “good offices” to resolve the dispute several times, and “we hope that this is something that can be solved peacefully and that the situation in Kashmir is a situation in which human rights are respected and in which people can live in peace and security.”
Pakistan has always welcomed the UN Secretary-General’s offer of mediation, but India always rejected it.
