Kashmir remains on UN Security Council agenda

Clarifying why UK's top envoy Mark Lyall Grand did not mention Kashmir last week while ticking off disputes under the Security Council, the British mission's spokesperson Harriet Cross said "conflicts mentioned in the statement were all considered by the SC during this period.

"As Kashmir was not considered by the Council during this period, it was not mentioned in the report." The summary of matters, issued in March 2010 by the UN, noted that the "India-Pakistan question" had not been considered at a formal meeting during the three-year period from January one, 2007 to December 31, 2009 but the Security Council remained seized of the matter.

Pakistan repeatedly raises Kashmir as an issue for UN intervention but India asserts that it is an internal matter. Since UK holds the presidency of the Security Council for November, Grant had presented the annual report of the Security Council on behalf of all the Security Council members at the annual debate held in the UN General Assembly on Friday.

Following Grant's statement, Pakistan objected that he had not mentioned Kashmir. Amjad Hussain B Sial, Pakistan's acting envoy to the UN, said "We understand this was an inadvertent omission, as Jammu and Kashmir is one of the oldest disputes on agenda of the Security Council."

Cross also said that the UK's position for India and Pakistan is "to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir, one which takes into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people."