India, Pakistan bilateral talks only way to Kashmir solution: EU

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India, Pakistan bilateral talks only way to Kashmir solution: EU

Mogherini said she underlined the importance of avoiding an escalation of tensions in Kashmir and the region

Thursday August 8, 2019 5:28 PM, ummid.com with inputs from IANS

Brussels/Islamabad: The European Union on Thursday expressed support to a bilateral political solution between India and Pakistan over Kashmir saying this "remains the only way to solve a long-lasting dispute that causes instability and insecurity in the region."

A High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, released a statement after speaking on phone with Minister of External Affairs of India S. Jaishankar and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

In both telephone calls, Mogherini said she underlined the importance of avoiding an escalation of tensions in Kashmir and the region.

"To this end, dialogue between India and Pakistan through diplomatic channels is crucial," stressed the EU foreign policy chief.

Pakistan to take Kashmir issue to UNSC

On the other hand, Pakistan announced that it would take the matter of India revoking special status for Jammu and Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the decision had been taken in light of several pre-existing UN resolutions on the Kashmir dispute, Dawn newspaper reported.

The Minister said that Pakistan "rejected New Delhi's impression that scrapping Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was its internal matter" and called the "claim wrong from a historical, legal and moral perspective".

Qureshi also questioned India's stand that the change in the constitutional status was aimed at taking steps for the welfare of Kashmiris, the report said.

Noting that as many as thousands of Indian troops had been deployed in Kashmir, Qureshi asked the Indian government whether turning the region into a "virtual jail" was one of its "welfare steps", according to Dawn.

Challenging India's stance that the Kashmir move was its "internal matter", the Minister said former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had declared "countless times" making at least 14 solemn promises and commitments that "the future of Kashmir is going to be decided finally by the goodwill and pleasure of her people".

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