UN position on Kashmir's settlement is governed by its charter, UNSC resolutions: Guterres

UNITED NATIONS: Reiterating his concern over the grave situation following India's annexation of disputed Kashmir, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday said the United Nations' position on the settlement of decades-old dispute was governed by its charter and "applicable Security Council resolutions".

"The Secretary-General calls on all parties to refrain from taking steps that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir," his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement he read out at the regular noon briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Today's statement of  the secretary-general, who is away from New York, went beyond his earlier calls for India and Pakistan to exercise restraint as the situation in the disputed Kashmir region deteriorated.

On Wednesday, Pakistan's Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi met the Secretary-General's Chef de Cabinet Maria Louisa Ribeiro Viotti, and asked for the UN chief to demand that India comply with the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir that call for a UN-supervised plebiscite to determine the wishes of the Kashmiri people and also prohibit any alteration in the status of the disputed state until its final settlement.

The UN chief, in his statement, also recalled the 1972 Simla Agreement, which states that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, "in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations".

"The Secretary-General is also concerned over reports of restrictions on the Indian-side of Kashmir, which could exacerbate the human rights situation in the region," the statement said, obviously referring to the India's complete lockdown of Kashmir with communications cut and schools closed.

Spokesman Dujarric faced a series of questions on the issue, but he generally stuck to the wording of the statement. "The Secretary General has been following the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with concern and makes an appeal for maximum restraint," he told reporters.

Asked with whom the UN was in contact about the situation in Kashmir following India's action, he said the Secretariat was engaging with permanent missions of India and Pakistan in New York.

He said Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's letter had been received and circulated as a UNSC document, as was requested.

Specifically asked about his proposal to appoint a special representative on Kashmir, the spokesman said the letter was being studied and he had no announcement to make at present stage.