UNSC to Discuss Kashmir Issue in Closed-Door Meeting on Friday

Poland, which holds the council’s rotating presidency now, has listed the matter for discussion at 7.30 pm IST.

Modi and Xi at the BRICS summit. 

(Photo: PTI)

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a rare meeting on Kashmir after India revoked the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, sparking a row with Pakistan, diplomats told AFP on Thursday, 15 August.

The meeting will take place behind closed doors on Friday morning, the diplomats said.

Poland, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, has listed the matter for discussion at 10:00 local time, (7.30 pm IST), the diplomats added.

It is extremely rare for the Security Council to discuss Kashmir. The last time there was a full Security Council meeting on the Himalayan region was in 1965.

India has categorically told the international community that its move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution removing the special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and has also advised Pakistan to "accept the reality".

China Asks for UNSC Meeting on J&K After Pakistan’s Letter to UN

After Pakistan, China too asked for "closed consultations" in the UN Security Council to discuss the Kashmir issue. Pakistan, Beijing's closest ally, wrote a letter on the issue to Poland, the Council President for the month of August.

“China asked for closed consultations on the Security Council agenda item ‘India Pakistan Question’. The request was in reference to the Pakistani letter to Security Council President,” a top diplomat told AFP.

Pak Calls for ‘Emergency Meeting’

Pakistan had formally called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had informed.

Qureshi had said he sent a formal letter to the president of the UNSC through Permanent Representative Lodhi to convene the meeting. He had air-dashed to Beijing for consultation with the Chinese leadership on the issue of raising the Kashmir issue at the UNSC.

When EAM Jaishankar Met Chinese Counterpart

During his bilateral meeting with China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday, 12 August, in Beijing, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed that the decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter for India.

He said the issue related to changes in a temporary provision of the Constitution of India and was the sole prerogative of the country.

Jaishankar noted that the legislative measures were aimed at promoting better governance and socio-economic development and there was no implication for either the external boundaries of India or the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

“India was not raising any additional territorial claims. The Chinese concerns in this regard were therefore misplaced,” he said.

Jaishankar told Wang that these changes had no bearing on Pakistan as it was an internal matter.

"It did not impact the LoC. Where India Pakistan relations are concerned, Chinese side should base its assessment on realities. India, as a responsible power, had shown restraint in face of provocative Pakistani rhetoric and actions. India has always stood for normalisation of the ties in an atmosphere free of terror," he said.