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Pakistan’s permanent envoy to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said the Security Council’s meeting is testament that Kashmir issue is not an internal matter of India but an international issue.



Briefing the media along with the Chinese envoy to the United Nations after the UNSC meeting convened on Friday to discuss New Delhi’s illegal move of depriving Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, she said there was an effort to cancel this meeting and we are grateful to all member states for having it.



Dr Lodhi said that all the 15 permanent and non-permanent member states attended the consultative session today, adding that the meeting was briefed on the latest developments and the dismal human rights situation in Occupied Kashmir.



“This is the first but not the last step we have taken on aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir. We’ll continue our efforts to peacefully resolve this issue,” she remarked.



Dr Lodhi said the voice of the people of Occupied Kashmir has been heard today in the highest diplomatic forum.



“They are not alone… their voices have been heard, and their plight, their hardship, their pain, their suffering, occupation of their land and the consequences of that occupation has been heard in the UN Security Council today,” she added.



'Internationally recognised dispute'



Speaking on the occasion, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said the Kashmir issue has become an internationally recognised dispute, which should be resolved according to the UN charter.



He said India’s unilateral step has aggravated the situation in the region.



The Chinese ambassador said members of the Security Council generally feel India and Pakistan should both refrain from unilateral action over Kashmir. Zhang told reporters that the situation in Kashmir is “already very tense and very dangerous”.



The meeting was called amid the heightened tensions between Pakistan and India following the abrogation of Occupied Kashmir’s special status in the first week of August.



New Delhi ended the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority territory on August 5, stepping up movement restrictions and cutting off phone and internet access to head off civil unrest, and igniting calls from Pakistan for the international community to intervene.



Kashmiris protested against the Modi government’s highly provocative move after Friday prayers earlier in the day. Police fired tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns to disperse residents who tried to march down the main road in Srinagar.



Protesters hurled stones and used shop hoardings and tin sheets as improvised shields, as police shot dozens of rounds into the crowd.



Moreover, four Pakistan Army soldiers have also been martyred in unprovoked Indian fire along the LoC since Thursday which was retaliated effectively resulting in the killing of five Indian troops, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).



Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan held a telephonic conversation with United States President Donald Trump and took him into confidence over United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on India’s illegal Kashmir move.



In a televised statement, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the premier also reached out to four out of five heads of permanent member states of the Security Council over the issue. “We are also trying to contact the French president so that his country understands our position,” he added.