United Kingdom didn't back Pakistan in UNSC meet
United Kingdom didn't back Pakistan in UNSC meet
According to British diplomatic
sources, United Kingdom did not support China or Pakistan at the closed-door
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting about Kashmir on Friday.
Senior UK diplomatic sources told
Times of India that, “I can confirm we
did not take sides in the debate and did not side with China against India. As
you know, our longstanding position is that it is for India and Pakistan to
find a lasting political solution on Kashmir. China called for the meeting. We
had no involvement in calling for it. China wanted to say that unilateral
action by India to revoke Article 370 was destabilising.”
“There was no formal statement issued at the
end of the meeting and no further action determined. This is the first time in
50 or 60 years that the UNSC has talked about Kashmir. The UK has always been
of the view that Kashmir is a matter for Pakistan and India to resolve,” the source said.
Media sources were saying that United
Kingdom had displayed its support for Pakistan and China in the recently
conducted close door meeting but the diplomatic sources of UK had denied these
reports.
UK diplomatic sources also had stated
that, “We don’t know where this line
came from that the UK backed a draft statement by China or backed China. It is
not true. It must have come from one of the other members, as it did not come
from the UK. There was no draft statement. There was talk of publishing a
statement afterwards and the UK position was if there was an agreed position we
will consider it, but there was no agreed position, so no statement to draft.
It was just a debate.”
With countries like USA, Russia and
France not siding with Pakistan on this issue, United Kingdom going against
Pakistan is a big blow for the Imran Khan government.
Source: Times Of India