Prosperity in South Asia hinges on India-Pakistan relations: Top UN official

PEACE, stability and prosperity in south Asia depend on the "normalisation of relations" between Pakistan and India, a top UN official said as he urged the neighbours to work for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue.

UN General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir, a former Turkish diplomat and politician, is in Pakistan on an official visit. His comments came during a talk on the ‘importance of multilateralism' at the National Defence University in Islamabad on Thursday (27).

"I urge India and Pakistan to work for a peaceful solution to this problem," he said.

"I have always urged the parties to refrain from changing the status of the disputed territory," Bozkir said, apparently in a veiled reference to India's move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories in August 2019.

Bozkir arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday (26) for an official visit and held talks - including on Kashmir - with foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Bozkir "reiterated that @UN position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute is governed by the UN Charter and relevant #UNSC resolutions...,” Pakistan’s foreign office tweeted.

Ties between India and Pakistan became strained after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by militant groups based in the neighbouring country. The subsequent attack on the Indian Army camp in Uri and the Pulwama terror strike in which 40 soldiers were killed widened the divide between the two countries.

Ties further deteriorated after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories.

Bozkir is the first Turkish national to preside over the UN General Assembly. He previously visited Pakistan in August 2020 before taking up the position of president of the UNGA.

In his remarks, Bozkir also said the UN's "inaction" on the issue of Palestine is hurting its credibility.

"Inaction on the issue of Palestine, which is a grave matter, is damaging the credibility of the United Nations and the Security Council," Bozkir said. He hoped the Security Council will also hear a unanimous vote on the matter.