United Nations: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said he is engaged in quiet diplomacy to ensure a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through his meetings with the Prime Ministers of both countries. While acknowledging that he was engaged in quiet diplomacy to get Prime Minister Narendar Modi and Nawaz Sharif talk on the Kashmir issue, he prevaricated when questioned upfront if he was involved in mediation of the Kashmir dispute.
Asked by a reporter about his role in resolving the vexed dispute at his first press conference at the United Nations headquarters here, Mr Guteres responded: ”Why do you think I met three times the Prime Minister of Pakistan and two times the Prime Minister of India?” ”For someone accused of doing nothing, it’s quite a number of meetings,” he laughed off the question. He was replying to a query about the UN’s role in the context of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control amid numerous accusations of ceasefire violations. Mr Guteres, who assumed office in January, however, preferred not to divulge any further details on whether he would be interested in mediating between the two South Asian neighbours over the Kashmir issue.
Mr Modi and Mr Sharif have met several times in recent times, most recently in St Petersburg earlier this month on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum and at Astana during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. However, their encounters have remained frosty with neither side unbending and signalling a thaw in bilateral ties. While New Delhi has made it clear that it is against widening the discussion beyond bilateral dialogue, Islamabad has sought to internationalise and raise the issue at various international fora in breach of the 1972 Simla Accord spirit. UNI
