United Nations: The UN Security Council (UNSC) will meet here Friday to discuss India revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir after Pakistan wrote a letter on the issue to the world body.
China, the closest ally of Pakistan, asked for ‘closed consultations’ in the Council, which will meet at 10 am (7:30pm IST) to discuss the matter.
A UN diplomat had told this agency that China had asked for closed consultations on the Security Council agenda item ‘India-Pakistan Question’. “The request was in reference to the Pakistani letter to Security Council President,” the diplomat informed.
Closed meetings are not open to the public and no verbatim record of statements is kept. Consultations are informal meetings of the UNSC members and are not covered in the Repertoire.
The Repertoire, mandated by the General Assembly, provides comprehensive coverage of the UNSC’s interpretation and application of the United Nations Charter and its own Provisional Rules of Procedure since 1946.
Its primary purpose is to provide Member States, including those elected to serve on the Security Council, the United Nations system, academics and others with a source of information regarding the evolving practice of the Security Council.
According to UN records, the last time ‘the Security Council addressed the dispute between India and Pakistan over the territories of Jammu and Kashmir’ under agenda item ‘The India-Pakistan Question’ was in 1964-65. Then, by a letter dated January 16, 1964, the representative of Pakistan had requested the President of the Council to ‘convene an immediate meeting’ of the Council to consider the Kashmir situation.
PTI