India Slams Germany's Call For UN Intervention Over Kashmir Dispute

India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads over the Kashmir dispute ever since both countries gained independence in 1947. New Delhi and Islamabad have been claiming possession of the region with India accusing Pakistan of backing militants and the latter claiming India is mistreating the Muslim population in the province.

Rejecting the German foreign minister’s call to get the United Nations involved to resolve the Kashmir issue, India said that Kashmir is an issue which concerns India and Pakistan alone, and there is no need for any third party to get involved.

India's Ministry of External Affairs also said that the focus should instead be on tackling Pakistan-based terrorists that have targeted the region for long.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Arindam Bagchi, the spokesman at the Ministry of External Affairs, said: "All serious and conscientious members of the global community have a role and responsibility to call out international terrorism, especially of a cross-border nature."

He added: "The Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has borne the brunt of such a terrorist campaign for decades. This continues now. Foreign nationals have been victims there, as in other parts of India. The UN Security Council and FATF are still pursuing Pakistan-based terrorists involved in the horrific 26/11 attacks."

The response from India came after Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and her Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called for the "engagement of the United Nations" in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in a joint press conference in Berlin on Friday,

Praising the Line of Control (LoC) ceasefire agreement of February 2021 between both the countries, Baerbock said: “Germany has a role and responsibility with regard to the situation of Kashmir. Therefore, we support intensively the engagement of the United Nations to find peaceful solutions in the region.”

She also called for a “political dialogue” between both the countries noting the “positive signals” such as cooperation between Pakistan and India to supply food to Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari maintained that “grave human rights violations” are being committed in Jammu and Kashmir, and this poses a risk to regional peace and stability.

He said peace in South Asia won’t be possible without the “peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions, in accordance with international law”.

“We hope to see the day that the UN plays an appropriate role to bring this long-standing dispute to a conclusion so we can not only have peace within our region, but we can enhance areas of cooperation,” he added.