Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold closed consultations today (May 5) to discuss the India-Pakistan situation, following Pakistan’s request for an emergency meeting on the matter. Notably, ties between the two neighbouring countries plummeted following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
Pakistan is currently a non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation Security Council, which is being presided over by Greece for the month of May.
In addition to the five permanent members with veto power — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — the current non-permanent members of the UN Security Council are Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somali
Pakistan requested closed consultations
Islamabad has “requested closed consultations” regarding the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, and the meeting has been scheduled by the Greek Presidency of the UN Security Council for the afternoon of May 5.
Amid rising tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of May Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris had last week said that if a request comes for a meeting to discuss the situation between India and Pakistan, “then… I think this meeting should take place because, as we said, maybe it’s also an opportunity to have views expressed and this might help to diffuse a bit of tension.”
“We are in close contact…but this is something which might happen, I would say, sooner rather than later. We will see, we are preparing,” Sekeris had said.
In response to a question by news agency PTI on India being a victim of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which now sits in the Council as a non-permanent member, and need to commit terrorism, Sekeris said “It’s an issue which is very pertinent.”
“As I said before, as a position of principle, we strongly condemn any act of terrorism and this is what we did” on the “heinous terrorist attack” that took place in Pahalgam in which innocent civilians died, Sekeris said.
Sekeris noted that “we express our condolences to the government of India, Nepal and the families of victims. This is a position of principle. We condemn terrorism in all its forms, everywhere it is happening. On the other hand, we are concerned about this tension which is mounting in the region. Two very big countries. Of course, India is far more bigger” than Pakistan.
EAM Jaishankar spoke with Council members
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reached out to all members of the UN Security Council, except China and Pakistan, emphasising the need to hold the attack’s “perpetrators, backers, and planners” accountable.
He had a “good conversation” with Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, during which the two discussed the attack. India had welcomed Greece’s firm opposition to cross-border terrorism and “our Strategic Partnership reflects the depth of our ties,” Jaishankar had said.
He also spoke with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, French Foreign Minster Jean-Noël Barrot, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sierra Leone Timothy Musa Kabba, Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf, Foreign Minister Hugh Hilton Todd of Guyana, Slovenia Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali of Somalia and Panama Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez.
(With PTI inputs)
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