Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed doubts about his efficacy in enabling talks between India and Pakistan but said he hoped that given their importance they would enter into a meaningful dialogue.
“I have been offering my good offices in relation to the dialogue between the two countries that until now had no condition of success,” he said on Friday at a news conference while answering a question about his possible role in such negotiations.
“The importance of both the Indian and Pakistan is such in international affairs (that) I hope that the two countries will be able to engage in a meaningful dialogue.”
India has firmly rejected any role for the UN or other outside parties in bilateral relations with its neighbour.
Guterres as well as his predecessors and US Presidents have offered their “good offices” to facilitate a dialogue but these have been rejected by India.
As for UN’s role dealing with “human rights violations” in Kashmir, Guterres referred to a report produced by former UN Human Rights High Commissioner ZeidRa’ad Al-Hussein last year, saying: “UN has clearly done its job in that regard.”
Zeid had made a compilation of what he said were human rights in the state and called for the creation of an international commission of inquiry on human rights violations in Kashmir.
Last week, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative MaleehaLodhi wrote to the Security Council President asking that three matters relating to India and Pakistan be retained on the list of matters the council is “seized of”.
Going beyond the Kashmir issue, she also wanted to keep under consideration the accession of Hyderabad Nizamdom to independent India in 1948.
Surveying the global situation, Guterres warned of a rising tide of fear-mongering around the globe exploiting the growing inequalities and the “deficit of trust” in governments and institutions.
He said that an atmosphere of hate and xenophobia similar to what prevailed before the World War II could develop.
“We hear troubling, hateful echoes of eras long past,” he said. IANS