Pak-India military confrontation will be a disaster of unmitigated proportions: Antonio Guterres

NEW YORK (92 News) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that any military confrontation between Pakistan and India would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions for both countries and for the whole world.

Addressing a press conference at UN headquarters on Thursday, he urged India and Pakistan to come together and solve their problems. “Our good offices are always available [for mediation] and we will insist within it… finding peaceful solutions for problems that have no military solution,” he said.

He encouraged the resolution of the Kashmir dispute according to UN resolutions and its charter. “[It] is absolutely essential to have a de-escalation of the situation, namely in the Line of Contact [Line of Control, or LoC],” he said. “It is essential that human rights are fully respected in all territories.”

Guterres was referring to his statement made on the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region after India unilaterally annexed the region Aug 5, 2019.

A report by the Legal Forum for Kashmir assessing the human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 said 474 people, including 232 suspected militants and 177 Indian troops, were killed in the region. Sixty-five civilians were killed “extrajudicially,” the report claimed.