FM urges UN chief for mediatory measures seeking reversal of unilateral actions on IIOJK

Monitoring Report
NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday urged the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to avail the full panoply of mediatory measures to persuade India to reverse its unilateral measures in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The foreign minister, in his address at the 12th Ministerial Meeting of the UN Group of Friends of Mediation on “Avoiding Humanitarian Crises Through Mediation” also sought UN chief’s mediatory role to seek India’s agreement to promote an equitable solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and the UN Charter.
The Security Council should give full support to the secretary-general in using his good offices to this end, he told the meeting held on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly here.
He thanked the Co-Chairs Turkiye and Finland for organizing the meeting and said that Pakistan also commended the UN Secretary-General and Turkish President Erdogan for successfully mediating the landmark Black Sea Grain Initiative.
He said the important role of the United Nations in conflict prevention was unquestionable and at any stage of a conflict, the Security Council could recommend to the parties appropriate procedures or methods of settlement of their dispute, which may include mediation.
Bilawal Bhutto said that the UNSC also has the power to recommend terms of settlement to the parties, if they request this or if the Council considers that the continuance of their dispute was in fact likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.
However, he said nearly 77 years after the signing of the Charter, the challenges and threats to peace and security were perhaps more complex, but the Charter’s purposes and principles remained valid and immutable.
“It is imperative to reaffirm our commitment and confidence in these principles and to promote solutions to disputes and conflicts, between large and small States, on the basis of these principles,” the foreign minister remarked.
He said the secretary-general’s repeated calls for a ‘surge in diplomacy’ for peace was both urgent and important. And, such a surge of diplomacy must emanate from the United Nations and the machinery that was available to it for the purpose, including for mediation and similar means of dispute resolution.