Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has raised the Kashmir issue with almost every world leader he has held talks with on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, but his efforts to internationalise the dispute with India appeared to have gained no traction.
Sharif raised the issue with the leaders of the US, the UK, Japan and Turkey and sought their intervention to resolve the matter. He met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here yesterday.
"PM Sharif briefed Japanese PM about the grave turn that the situation in occupied Kashmir is taking. Reminded him about UNSC resolutions," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted.
"PM Nawaz Sharif also apprised his Japanese counterpart of the human rights violations being committed by Indian occupation forces in Kashmir," Lodhi said in another tweet.
Erdogan and Sharif "agreed that OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation)Comm on Human Rights should send a fact-finding mission" to Kashmir, Lodhi said.
On Monday, Sharif held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Prime Minister Theresa May.
According to a readout of his meeting with Kerry by the Pakistan mission, Sharif told him that more than 107 people have been "assassinated" in Kashmir, thousands injured and "worst human rights violations are being committed at the state level."
"I still remember President (Bill) Clinton's promise that US will play its role to help out in resolving bilateral disputes and issues between Pakistan and India," Sharif said, according to the release.
"I expect US Administration and Secretary Kerry to use his good offices to help in resolving bilateral issues between Pakistan and India," he added.
In his meeting with May, Sharif urged her to play her role in convincing India to stop the use of force against the people in the region.
He said Pakistan's support for Kashmiri people "in their legitimate struggle for self determination and its commitment to the Kashmir cause are non-negotiable."
However,Sharif's repeated calls to the UN to help resolve the Kashmir dispute appeared to be gaining no traction as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made no reference to Kashmir in his final speech to the UNGA as the UN chief.
At the opening session of the General Debate yesterday, Ban touched upon a cross-section of global issues including the Syrian crisis, the Palestinian issue, the refugee and migrant movements and tension in the Korean Peninsula.
Kashmir will be the focal point of Sharif's address to the UN General Assembly tomorrow.
Tension have heightened between India and Pakistan in the wake of the attack by heavily-armed militants, suspected to be from Pakistan, on an army base in Uri in which 18 jawans died.
Ban has repeatedly said his "good offices" are available to help resolve the Kashmir dispute only if both India and Pakistan request for it, a clear indication that the issue is bilateral and should be solved by the two countries only.
Sharif said the "Indian brutalities are well documented"
and that "Pakistan will share with the Secretary General a dossier containing detailed information and evidence of the gross and systematic violations of human rights committed" in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The Security Council has called for the exercise of the right to self-determination by the people of Jammu and Kashmir through a free and fair plebiscite held under UN auspices. The people of Kashmir have waited 70 years for implementation of this promise," he said, adding the Security Council must honour its commitments by implementing its own decisions.
Sharif, who spoke amid heightening tensions between India and Pakistan, insisted that his country wants peace with the neighbour as "confrontation should not be our destiny in South Asia."
The Pakistan Prime Minister claimed that he had "gone the extra mile to achieve this, repeatedly offering a dialogue to address all outstanding issues but India has posed unacceptable preconditions to engage in a dialogue.
"Let us be clear: talks are no favor to Pakistan. Talks are in the interest of both countries. They are essential to resolve our differences, especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and to avert the danger of any escalation."
While insisting that peace and normalization between Pakistan and India cannot be achieved without a resolution of the Kashmir dispute, he said, "This is an objective evaluation, not a partisan position."
"Today, from this rostrum, I would also like to reiterate our offer to India to enter into a serious and sustained dialogue for the peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, especially Jammu and Kashmir," Sharif said.
He also said that Pakistan was "open to discussing all measures of restraint and responsibility with India, in any forum or format and without any conditions."
Pakistan is "ready for talks to agree on a bilateral nuclear test ban treaty," he added.
Claiming that Pakistan "neither wants, nor is engaged in an arms race with India", Sharif said, "We have consistently urged the conclusion of bilateral arms control and disarmament measures between Pakistan and India to prevent conflict and avoid wasteful military expenditures.
