Kashmir exists on UNSC agenda, admits India’s ex-envoy at UN

New Delhi, June 22, 2014 (PPI-OT): India’s former permanent representative at the UN, Chinmaya R Gharekhan, has said that India cannot wish away the Kashmir question by refusing to talk about it with Pakistan.

Chinmaya R Gharekhan, who is currently working as senior fellow with, Delhi Policy Group, in an article admits that “The dispute regarding the state of Jammu and Kashmir exists.

We ourselves unwisely took it to the United Nations, where it remains an item on the agenda of the Security Council.”He says, “The fact that the Council has not discussed it for decades does not mean that it will not be discussed if the situation in Jammu and Kashmir deteriorates to the extent of threatening international peace and security.”

“Even the Simla Agreement of July 1972, which we seem to swear by, speaks of a final settlement of the Kashmir issue,” he adds.

About the recent meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Chinmaya R Gharekhan says that he has no means to ascertain whether Nawaz raised Kashmir during his one-on-one meeting with Modi, but that is not relevant for the Pakistani media and the anti-India establishment in Pakistan.

“Be that as it may, India cannot wish away the Kashmir question by refusing to talk about it with Pakistan. The dispute regarding the state of Jammu and Kashmir exists.”

“For reasons best known to those in government, every time Pakistan mentions the Kashmir issue, we go on the defensive.

The very word ‘Kashmir’, if uttered by Pakistan, signifies hostile intent, and we withdraw into a shell. There is no reason for such a reaction. It is as much in our interest to discuss Kashmir as Pakistan suggests it is in its, perhaps more so,” he maintains.

Discussing the back channel diplomacy, he said, “The back channel envoys should have precise mandates and guidelines. It cannot be talks for the sake of talks. Such talks can easily be managed through open channels. Nor should such a mechanism be employed merely to draft CBMs.

Why be secretive about building confidence and trust? Secret ­diplomacy ought to be about really serious matters, not for people-to-people contact and cultural matters, important as these subjects are. The two principals — in this case, the prime ministers — ought to agree first on what they expect from the secret channel. Should the talks be aimed at resolving the issue? Each back channel emissary should receive the same mandate and set of instructions from his prime minister. Otherwise, the exercise will yield conflicting results,” he remarked.

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