Pahalgam terror attack: UNSC to hold closed consultations on rising Indo-Pak tensions

Islamabad had “requested closed consultations” on the tensions between the two countries and the Greek Presidency has scheduled the meeting for May 5 in the afternoon.

On Sunday, the Pakistan foreign office said that it has decided to brief the UNSC on the latest regional developments in the wake of the terror attack in which 26 people were killed. According to a statement, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had directed Pakistan’s UN Permanent Representative Ambassador Asim Iftikhar to take immediate steps to convene a meeting of the Security Council.

“Pakistan will inform the UNSC about India’s aggressive actions, provocations, and provocative statements,” the foreign office had said.

“Pakistan will specifically highlight India’s illegal actions to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty,” it said, adding that the country would clarify how New Delhi’s actions are jeopardising “peace and security” in the region.

After a non-permanent member requests for a meeting, the member country — which is the president of the UNSC for the month — has to take a call on allowing the issue to be discussed. Normally, when a country at the UNSC calls for a meeting, the President usually allows it.

A closed-door meeting is supposed to be an off-the-record meeting, with no statements or resolutions in that case. In August 2019, following the abrogation of Article 370, a meeting was called by China at Pakistan’s behest, but there was no UNSC statement at that time.

Apart from the five permanent members who have veto powers — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US — the 10 non-permanent members in the Council currently are Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia.

In 2019, India was a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council. This time, Pakistan is at the Security Council in New York, which means that they have the voice at the table, while India is not present in the room.

So, India has to depend on other friendly countries to present Delhi’s views, and who will also brief India about what transpired at the meeting.

While Indian diplomats in New York are working tirelessly to lobby with the members at the UNSC, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has spoken with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, French Foreign Minster Jean-Noel Barrot and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, and other non-permanent members. He has not spoken to Pakistan and Chinese foreign ministers.

In his calls, Jaishankar underlined his message that Pahalgam terror attack’s “perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice”.

Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for May Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris had last week said that a meeting should take place if a request comes to discuss the India-Pakistan situation.

“As I said before, as a position of principle, we strongly condemn any act of terrorism and this is what we did” on the “heinous terrorist attack” that took place in Pahalgam in which innocent civilians died, Sekeris had said.

At a press conference last Friday, Ahmad said at the UN that his country has the right to convene a meeting when “we feel appropriate”.

“We see that all of this that is happening is in the context, in the backdrop of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” Ahmad had said, adding that the situation that evolved after the attack is a real threat to regional and international peace and security. The Pakistani envoy had last week met Guterres and briefed him about the security situation in the region.

(With inputs from PTI in New York)