India / France vetoes China's move to hold UNSC meeting on Kashmir: Reports

NEW DELHI: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday turned down the proposal to convene a meeting on Kashmir after France vetoed the move, French diplomatic sources told ANI.

"Kashmir will not be discussed in the Security Council today. Our position has been very clear. Kashmir issue has to be treated bilaterally. We have highlighted this several times recently, including in New York," sources said.

It was reported that China called for the meeting after Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a letter to the Security Council on December 12, had expressed concern over a possible further escalation of tension between New Delhi and Islamabad after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.

But the move has been shelved for now. Diplomatic sources, however, do not rule out a discussion in the future.

The UNSC had met on Kashmir in August, the first such meeting in decades after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status. China, in the meeting, had strongly criticised the move to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

This comes ahead of the 22nd round of boundary talks between India and China that is expected to take place in a few days.

China and Pakistan have repeatedly criticised India on the global platform Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked, instead of taking care of the vulnerable condition of the minorities, facing the constant threat of persecution on their own soil.

The United Nations, as well as the entire international community, has condemned China's crackdown on the Uighur Muslims in the north-western province of Xinjiang and the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of Balochs, Ahmadiyya, and other minority communities by the Pakistani establishment.