Pakistan took up the issue of Jammu Kashmir and oppose the expansion of the Security Council’s permanent membership in a high level secession of the United Nations.
Pakistan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who just recovered from COVID-19, raised the issue of Jammu Kashmir in his address Friday to the High-Level Segment of UN ECOSOC titled ‘Multilateralism after COVID 19: what kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary?’
Qureshi said that the United Nations and the entire concept of multilateralism has been eroded by resorting to hegemonism, coercion and arbitrary use of force.
Qureshi said Pakistan was “particularly concerned” by the “oppression and atrocities” being perpetrated against the people of Jammu Kashmir. India has firmly told Pakistan that Jammu Kashmir has been, is, and shall continue to be an integral part of India.
New Delhi has maintained that issues related to Jammu Kashmir are internal matters to India.
Qureshi also said that the Security Council will not be revitalised by accommodating the narrow ambitions of those who seek power and privilege and additional permanent members in the Security Council will compound, not resolve, its paralysis.
In his keynote address to the session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the fury of the COVID-19 pandemic provides the context for the “rebirth and reform” of the United Nations and called on nations to pledge to reform the global multilateral system to enhance its relevance and make it the basis of a new type of “human-centric globalisation.”
He said the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the UN is an opportunity to assess its role and relevance. The prime minister underscored that only reformed multilateralism with a reformed United Nations at its center can meet the aspirations of humanity.
The UN organ had said that central to the discussion will be the role of the UN and its institutions in charting the way forward towards more trusted and impactful international cooperation.