Surgical strikes: UN Chief Ban Ki-moon offers to mediate between India, Pak

The statement said the UN Chief urges both sides to ‘exercise maximum restraint’ and take ‘immediate steps to de-escalate the situation’.

Ban said his good offices are available, ‘if accepted by both sides’, as he called on the Governments of Pakistan and India to address their outstanding issues, including Kashmir, ‘peacefully through diplomacy and dialogue’.

India on Wednesday night conducted surgical strikes targeting terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). DGMO Lt General Ranbir Singh had said, “Significant casualties have been caused to terrorists and those trying to shield them. We don’t have a plan to further conduct such strikes. India has spoken to Pakistan.”

The strike came just days after the attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM on an Indian army camp in Uri in Kashmir that killed 20 jawans.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the attackers would not go “unpunished” and the sacrifice of the jawans would not be in vain.

The UN has long maintained an institutional presence in the contested area between India and Pakistan.

According to the Security Council mandate given in resolution 307 of 1971, the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) observes and reports on ceasefire violations along and across the Line of Control and the working boundary between the South Asian neighbours in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as reports developments that could lead to ceasefire violations.

India has however always maintained that UNMOGIP has ‘outlived its relevance’ and has ‘no role to play whatsoever’.