Pakistan urges UN to intervene, help ease tension with India post Pulwama Attack

Pakistan’s foreign minister appealed to the UN Secretary-General on Tuesday to help ease tension with India following a suicide bomb attack in the Indian part of disputed Kashmir, that India blamed on Pakistan.

“It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

“It is imperative to take steps for de-escalation. The United Nations must step in to defuse tensions,” he wrote, “for domestic political reasons, India has deliberately ratcheted up its hostile rhetoric against Pakistan.”

“Attributing it to Pakistan even before investigations is absurd; India must be asked to conduct an open and credible investigation on Pulwama incident,” he said.

On February 14, at least 41 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Kashmir’s Pulwama district in a suicide attack. A day after the attack, India revoked Pakistan’s Most Favoured Nation tag, and said it would isolate Islamabad globally. Islamabad has refuted allegations that it was connected with the attack.

Jaish-e Mohammad, a militant group based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility but the Pakistani government has denied any involvement.

Pakistan has repeatedly asked the United Nations to intervene to resolve the Kashmir dispute. India has rejected third party intervention in the dispute and has maintained that all outstanding matters in Indo-Pakistan ties should be resolved bilaterally.