Pakistan-India relationship: UN chief says wants to defuse hostility

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres on Sunday expressed 'deep concern' over the tension between Pakistan and India and offered his 'good offices' to defuse hostility while urging both sides to 'exercise restraint'.

Addressing a joint presser with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, following his arrival in Pakistan on a four-day visit, the UN chief officer shared his concern over the escalation of tension between the South Asian neighbours continued since the last year.

The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) continues to monitor the situation as per its mandate, he said. The UN SG, responding to a question, said there has been "full freedom of movement at the Pakistani side of Kashmir" in an obvious reference to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and hoped the same "would be achieved on the Indian side."

On the UN's possible role in diffusing Pak-India tension, he said, "I have offered my good offices (to diffuse tension). Of course, good offices can only work if accepted by both the sides."

The UN SG spoke highly of Pakistan and lauded its contributions to hosting Afghan refugees, peacekeeping operations and fight against terrorism. "For decades Pakistan had been the largest refugee-hosting state. Now it is the second largest. Pakistan hosted and supported the Afghan refugees with limited support from international community."

Recognising Pakistan's "outstanding generosity towards Afghan refugees for decades," the UN chief urged the world to "look at Pakistan through a wider frame."

He also appreciated Pakistan's 'remarkable' efforts to fight terrorism. "Everybody should support Pakistan." Responding to another query, Guterres spoke against Islamophobia saying, Islamophobia "is absolutely intolerable." In this regard, he said, the UN has taken practicable steps to counter hates speech.

Discussing the steps taken by Pakistan to take on the challenge of climate change, the UN SG lauded the federal government's 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Campaign. He termed the outbreak of coronavirus in China a huge challenge and said that it necessitates urgent and effective measures to respond to.

Earlier, speaking at a moot on climate change, the UN chief said he developed a 'love affair with Pakistan.' "For more than ten years, as High Commissioner for Refugees, I came many times to Pakistan. And in those ten years, I developed a love affair with the Pakistani people and with Pakistan itself.

And that love affair came from the extraordinary generosity and solidarity that the Pakistani people have shown, hosting millions of Afghan refugees, sharing with them its own resources, and independently of the impact, enormous impact on the economy, on the society, not to mention the impact of the Afghan crisis on the security of the country itself," he said.

Addressing the joint presser, Foreign Minister Qureshi said Pakistan has remained strongly supportive of the UN system. "Pakistan is a responsible UN member state. We understand how important multilateralism is."

Taking a jibe at India, he said, "There are elements who give preference to unilateralism over multilateralism. A manifestation of which we saw on August 5, 2019, a highly irresponsible step taken by or Eastern neighbour," he impliedly referred to the Indian Parliament's decision to deprive the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) of its special status and autonomy it enjoyed over the decades.

The foreign minister thanked the UN chief for his August 8 statement made last year reiterating Kashmir an internationally recognised dispute.

The foreign minister said Pakistan expects from the UN Secretary General to reaffirm binding nature of UN resolutions on Kashmir, ensure fundamental rights to over eight million Kashmiris locked down in IoK for over six months, ensure the implementation of Ceasefire Agreement 2003 between India and Pakistan, strengthen UNMOGIP, ensure freedom of movement for UNMOGIP in IoK and ask UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) to be cognizant of serious human rights violations in IoK.

Qureshi said the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) has internally divided India and has ignited countrywide protests against Narendra Modi's government. "There are voices in India coming from within that the CAA is a highly discriminatory, irrational and unjustified law," he said.

The UN chief is on a four-day visit to Pakistan (16-19 February 2020). This is his first visit to Pakistan as the Secretary General of the United Nations. According to an official handout, the UN SG will have bilateral meetings with the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The Secretary General's other engagements will include interactions and discussion sessions with the parliamentarians, youth, media, UN peacekeepers, refugees and children. He will deliver special talks on sustainable development, climate change, Youth, UN75 and UN peacekeeping.

He will also travel to Lahore and Gurdwara Kartarpur, where he shall be visiting some cultural and religious sites and will take part in cultural, youth and polio immunization activities. Following the completion of his official engagements, the UN chief will return to New York on 19 February.