New York: As president of the UN Security Council in March, and in a sharp departure from its position earlier, China ignored a plea by Pakistan for “urgent and appropriate’’ consideration of what the latter described as grave developments in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The significance of China’s stand while holding the UNSC presidency has not been lost on India as the two countries look to jointly combat Covid-19 and, as foreign minister S Jaishankar said last week, further build upon bilateral efforts in that domain.
The government had announced that Air India had established a cargo air-bridge between India and China, which has worked overtime to convince the world that it’s not responsible for Covid-19 origin and for transporting critical medical equipment and supplies between the two countries. Pakistan foreign minister Shah M Qureshi wrote to then UNSC President, China’s Zhang Jun, on March 9 highlighting the “grave human rights situation’’ in J&K. Pakistan announced this development only on March 27.
While Pakistan’s announcement didn’t specify what action Islamabad had sought, a letter dated March 10 from Pakistan’s permanent representative Munir Akram to Zhang, reveals that Pakistan requested “urgent and appropriate consideration’’ by the Security Council under “India-Pakistan Question’’ of developments in J&K which “pose a threat to international peace and security’’.
Beijing had been openly advocating Pakistan’s case on India’s decision to revoke the special status of J&K, even forcing the Security Council into having an informal meeting last year on the issue. China forced UNSC into having another closed-door meeting on Kashmir this year in January but this one too concluded without any outcome as an overwhelming majority in the Council agreed that the issue could only be discussed bilaterally.
