Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto writes to top UN officials highlighting Kashmir issue

Islamabad, May 11

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Pakistan’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has written a letter to the top UN officials highlighting the Kashmir issue, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday.

The letter addressed to the President of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General was sent on May 10, it said.

The letter apprises them, in particular, of India’s alleged attempt to carry out demographic changes in Jammu and Kashmir, FO said.

The minister underscored that “these illegal measures constitute flagrant violation of international law”, including the UN Charter and the relevant Security Council resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, it added.

He urged the UN Security Council to take immediate cognizance of the grave implications of the “illegal delimitation” and remind India that Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute pending resolution, and it should refrain from bringing about any demographic changes.

His predecessor Shah Mahmood Qureshi also wrote multiple letters to the top UN officials during his tenure, highlighting the Kashmir issue.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have spiked since New Delhi abrogated the Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. India’s decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of the Article 370 was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

India has told Pakistan that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Islamabad in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.