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Updated: Aug 09, 2019 01:26 IST

Calling for “maximum restraint” by all sides, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres on Thursday indicated the Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved bilaterally in keeping with the Shimla Agreement of 1972 and by peaceful means in accordance with the UN charter, according to an un spokesperson.

The reference to the Shimla Agreement in this context is rare and significant, according to people familiar with these discussions, as it provides the framework for resolving the dispute bilaterally, which is a rebuff in a way to Pakistan’s attempts to seek UN intervention.

“The Secretary-General also recalls the 1972 Agreement on bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, also known as the Simla Agreement, which states that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,” spokesperson for Gutteres said in a statement.

The secretary general was “concerned over reports of restrictions on the Indian-side of Kashmir, which could exacerbate the human rights situation in the region”, the spokesperson added, and that he has called on all parties to “refrain from taking steps that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir”, which was a reference, according to those people cited above, to the “final status”, and not the change in the state’s status to that of a Union Territory.

Pakistan had sought UN and UNSC intervention in letters to Gutteres, but it appears to have not achieved it objectives.