PM will urge UN intervention in Kashmir

ISLAMABAD, Sep 26 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he would ask the United Nations to step in, warning that it was too risky to allow tensions to escalate between India and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear weapons.

“This is the U.N.’s job and they have to intervene, send observers there,” he said while meeting with editors of The New York Times. Khan said he would ask the United Nations to intervene when he addressed the General Assembly on Friday.

The Prime Minister, lamenting the world’s indifference to civilian suffering in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, condemned India’s military clampdown there and said he would appeal to the United Nations for help.

“They do not understand that this can go horribly wrong,” he said.

In August, the Indian government revoked the longstanding autonomy of the Occupied Kashmir and arrested thousands of Kashmiris. It cut off phone and internet service to millions of people and imposed a curfew.

The move raised tensions between India and Pakistan, which have long been at odds over the restive region. A million troops have squared off along the disputed border, one of Asia’s tensest flash points and the source of two previous wars between the two countries.

“If the U.N. doesn’t speak about it, who is going to speak about it?” Mr. Khan said.

Over the past two months, Indian forces have rounded up thousands of Kashmiris, including elected representatives, local officials say.

Mr. Khan said India was behaving irrationally — and against its own longer-term interests. “Arrogance,” he said, “stops people from being rational.”

The Prime Minister said he feared that was exactly what would happen.“This is very dangerous,” he said, “because people don’t realize where it’s headed. It’s going to be a massacre, the moment they lift the curfew.”

The Pakistani leader said he was not optimistic that he would accomplish anything in his speech to the United Nations, at least not in the near term.

“But at least the world will be aware,” he said. “Because I fear an impending genocide.”

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