Offered my ‘good offices’ on Kashmir several times, issue can be solved peacefully: UN chief Antonio Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his offer to resolve the Kashmir issue saying he has offered his good offices several times with the hope that this issue can be solved peacefully
Despite his offer, India has rejected it in the past saying the dispute with Pakistan is a bilateral matter.
Citing the Simla Agreement signed in 1972 by then Indian Prime Minister India Gandhi and Pakistan President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, New Delhi has rejected any third party involvement in the Kashmir dispute.
As per the Simla Agreement, the two countries have agreed under the pact to resolve all disputes bilaterally.
“I’d offered my good offices several times and we hope that this is something that can be solved peacefully,” he said at his news conference on Friday.
Responding to a question by a Pakistani reporter on the Kashmir issue, he added that “he hoped the situation in Kashmir is a situation in which human rights are respected and in which people can live in peace and security”.
The UN chief further said that the position of the UN and the resolutions that were taken are the same and will remain the same.
On the current situation in Afghanistan, Guterres said that while it faced a serious situation of violations of human rights he would like to separate it from the humanitarian crisis there which needs to be addressed because of the dire situation faced by the people.
On the Ukraine crisis, Guterres rejected the prediction of US President Joe Biden and the American media of an imminent Russian invasion saying he is convinced that the invasion will not happen.
When asked if the world was on the verge of a Cold War II, the UN chief said he would call it a new form of tepid confrontation as it is more chaotic and much less predictable.
