Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 6, 2003
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=18934
To the surprise of diplomats, Pakistan
raked up Kashmir issue during the debate on Iraq in the United Nations
Security Council, but it evoked little response from the member states.
"I cannot but reiterate that the
long-term stability in the region will also require among other things,
durable elimination of political and military tensions between India and
Pakistan through the final settlement of the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir
in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions," its Foreign
Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said.
Kasuri was responding to the presentation
made in the Council by American Secretary of State Colin Powell to impress
on the members that Iraq is hiding its weapons of mass destruction and
deceiving the weapons inspectors.
The interjection of Kashmir issue
evoked little response from diplomats who were keenly looking for response
of various countries of Powell's 90-minute address interspersed with audio
and video presentation.
But Pakistani sources say that the
reference was in line with Islamabad's decision to mention Kashmir in every
speech it gives in the Council.
Pakistan joined the 15-member UN
Security Council as a non-permanent member on January 1 for a two-year
term ending on December 31, 2004.
