UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council (UNSC) held an urgent meeting on Wednesday to review the situation arising out of the Aug 5, 2019,in Kashmir by India, Dawn news reported.

The closed-door, 15-member meeting was held at the request of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, diplomatic, sources told Dawn.

“This 3rd meeting in a year by the UN Security Council serves as a stark repudiation to the Indian claim that Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter,” Mr Qureshi said in a tweet after the meeting.

“It further reaffirms the validity of UN resolutions on the Kashmiri’s right to self-determination through an impartial plebiscite.”

China, which is a permanent member of the Security Council, played a key role in arranging this meeting to underline the international community’s concerns on the atrocities India was committing in the occupied valley, the report stated.

All 15 members participated in the debate.

Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani of Indonesia, which holds the council’s presidency for August, presided the meeting.

“Today, as the world witnesses one year of India’s illegal occupation of Kashmir, Pakistan welcomes meeting the UNSC meeting. This is a mark of the international community’s and UNSC members’ solidarity with the Kashmiri people who are facing a savage military siege,” the foreign minister said.

The meeting showed that India’s gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir remained a grave concern for the international community.

He said: “Pakistan is thankful to all members of the UN Security Council, especially China, for the support in organising today’s meeting.”

Indian position:

India’s permanent representative said that  the meeting took place in a closed, informal way, without any outcome.

“In today’s meeting of UN Security Council which was closed, informal, not recorded and without any outcome, almost all countries underlined that J&K was bilateral issue & did not deserve time and attention of Council,” said TS Tirumurti, India’s permanent representative to the UN, in a tweet.