UN Head Ban Ki-Moon Offers to Mediate India-Pakistan Dialogue

Pakistan requested Ban Ki-Moon to issue an informal brief to India after India’s declaration of surgical strikes.

A file photo of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. (Photo: Reuters)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has offered to act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to help the nuclear-armed neighbours resolve their disputes.

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned over the significant increase in tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the recent developments, in particular the reported ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), following an attack on an Indian Army base in Uri on 18 September.

Ban Ki Moon’s Spokesperson

He has urged both the nations to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions in the region.

DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh addresses a press conference in New Delhi, on 29 September 2016. (Photo: IANS)

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Ban said his good offices are available, "if accepted by both sides", as he called on the Governments of Pakistan and India to address their outstanding issues, including Kashmir, "peacefully through diplomacy and dialogue."

India conducted surgical strikes on the intervening night of 28 and 29 September, targeting terror launch pads across the Line of Control.

The strike came just days after the attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Kashmir that killed 18 jawans.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the attackers would not go "unpunished" and the sacrifice of the jawans would not be in vain.

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The UN has long maintained an institutional presence in the contested area between India and Pakistan.

According to the Security Council mandate given in resolution 307 of 1971, the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) observes and reports on ceasefire violations along and across the LoC and the working boundary between the South Asian neighbours in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as reports of developments that could lead to ceasefire violations.

India has, however, always maintained that UNMOGIP has "outlived its relevance" and has "no role to play whatsoever".

However, Pakistan’s permanent representative to UN, Maleeha Lodhi, met with Ban Ki-Moon and requested him to issue an informal brief to India.

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(With PTI inputs)