South Asia region: Kashmir dispute remains root cause of instability: Maleeha

Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi asserted on Wednesday that the unresolved Kashmir dispute remains the root cause of tension and instability in South Asia. "The Kashmir issue has to be resolved in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions," Lodhi told the United Nations General Assembly during a debate.
Lodhi urged the international community to settle the Kashmir issue according to UN resolutions to bring durable peace and stability in South Asia. She said that the longstanding dispute had to be addressed boldly and decisively if enduring peace and stability was to be established in the area. "People of Kashmir have suffered brutal oppression," she said, adding that the urgency of peacefully settling the dispute was even more compelling today.
She said that calling for termination of these consultations, as a precondition for dialogue, is unacceptable as well as counter-productive, referring to the Indian pre-condition for talks. "Escalating tensions on the Line of Control in Kashmir and the Working Boundary also require Pakistan and India to take possible measures to avert further escalation."
She said, "It was against this backdrop that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a four-point peace initiative in this General Assembly on September 30. This should have evoked a positive response from India. But this has not been forthcoming." Nevertheless, she said, Pakistan stood ready to engage in a dialogue on all outstanding issues. The permanent representative pointed out that it was not Pakistan which stalled the dialogue process, but India which cancelled foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan scheduled for last year." "India has also failed to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism against innocent civilians in the Samjhota Express bombing," she added.