NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has admitted that Islamabad has failed to highlight the Kashmir issue or bring it to the centre of the UN agenda because of India’s diplomacy.
“We face a particularly uphill task to try and get Kashmir onto the centre of the agenda at the United Nations. Whenever the issue of Kashmir is brought up, our friends, neighbouring country, vociferously object and they perpetuate a post facto narrative, claiming that this is not a disputed territory recognised by the international community,’’ lamented Bhutto said while addressing a conference in the UN.
Bhutto added that he continued to make a noise about the issue at every event he attended. He also said Pakistan is isolated at the UN whilst raising Kashmir. Turkey was the only other country in the 193-member UN to mention Kashmir at last year’s UN General Assembly meeting, but it was a muted reference by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said, without any criticism of India, that it was unfortunate that the problem persisted after 75 years and expressed hope of permanent peace. India has all along maintained that Kashmir and all disputes between the neighbours are bilateral matters under the 1972 Simla Agreement.