Regretting that UN Security Council resolutions on the Kashmir dispute remain unimplemented to date, Pakistan on Tuesday urged India to resume the suspended composite dialogue aimed at promoting durable peace in the subcontinent. At the same time, Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon called on the 15-member council.
UN's most powerful body, to make wider and more effective use of the procedures and means of resolving disputes provided to it by the United Nations Charter, including mediation. "Pakistan remains steadfast in seeking a just and peaceful resolution to the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions," he said in an open debate in the council on mediation and pacific settlement of disputes.
Commenting on Secretary-General's report on the subject of the debate, the Pakistan ambassador said his delegation considered the UN chief's emphasis on early engagement and on processes addressing the root causes of conflicts was among the key lessons learned from the Organisation's past engagements.
Strengthening and making full use of the comparative advantages of regional, national and local capacities for conflict prevention, mediation, reconciliation and dialogue were also critical in the wider effort, he said. The need for professional mediation capacity was, as the report pointed out, also evident.
But while the report focused in large part on capacity-building and resources, Haroon underlined that the effectiveness of mediation was more a function of political factors. Indeed, they could not be put to good use unless the necessary political will was generated. The nature of two of the long-standing situations on the Council's agenda - Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir - were such that their continuance endangered international peace and security.
In Palestine, he said the council had been unable to implement its own resolutions, thereby delivering a self-inflicted blow to its credibility. The Council, the Pakistan ambassador said, did not need to be reminded that one of the earliest applications of Chapter VI of the Charter was in Jammu and Kashmir. (Chapter VI requires countries with disputes that could lead to war to first of all try to seek solutions through peaceful methods such as negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.)
The Security Council, he added, had also instituted a number of other mechanisms including the United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) and the deployment of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan and dispatched a number of representatives to consult on how to resolve the dispute according the Council's resolutions. Nevertheless, the Council's resolutions remained unimplemented.
While hopes in bilateral negotiations likewise remained unfulfilled, Pakistan remained committed to resolving the dispute in accordance with the relevant council's resolutions, which provided that 'the final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations'.
To have a holistic view, he said the Security Council should review the extent to which the provisions under Chapter VI had been utilised and implemented. Full success in efforts to strengthen conflict prevention would be impossible if the Council was unable to preserve and reinforce the Charter's obligation that Member States refrain from the use of force.
Further, Haroon said, injudicious use of Chapter VII of the Charter also created the wrong impression that non-Chapter VII resolutions were somehow not equally binding. (Chapter VII provides for enforcement of the council's decisions. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and non-military action to "restore international peace and security").
But, Ambassador Haroon said experience showed that Chapter VII measures were not always ideal and could worsen disputes. In contrast, he added, measures taken under Chapter VI built confidence and fostered respect for the sovereignty of States.