Sharif raising Kashmir with all leaders amid isolation fears

From Yoshita Singh United Nations, Sep 21 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister NawazSharif has raised the Kashmir issue with almost every worldleader he has held talks with on the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly session, but his efforts to internationalisethe dispute with India appeared to have gained no traction. Sharif raised the issue with the leaders of the US, theUK, Japan and Turkey and sought their intervention to resolvethe matter. He met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe andTurkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here yesterday. "PM Sharif briefed Japanese PM about the grave turn thatthe situation in occupied Kashmir is taking. Reminded himabout UNSC resolutions," Pakistan’s envoy to the UN MaleehaLodhi tweeted. "PM Nawaz Sharif also apprised his Japanese counterpart ofthe human rights violations being committed by Indianoccupation forces in Kashmir," Lodhi said in another tweet. Erdogan and Sharif "agreed that OIC (Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation) Comm on Human Rights should send afact-finding mission" to Kashmir, Lodhi said. On Monday, Sharif held bilateral talks with US Secretaryof State John Kerry and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. According to a readout of his meeting with Kerry by thePakistan mission, Sharif told him that more than 107 peoplehave been "assassinated" in Kashmir, thousands injured and"worst human rights violations are being committed at thestate level." "I still remember President (Bill) Clinton’s promise thatUS will play its role to help out in resolving bilateraldisputes and issues between Pakistan and India," Sharif said,according to the release. "I expect US Administration and Secretary Kerry to use hisgood offices to help in resolving bilateral issues betweenPakistan and India," he added. In his meeting with May, Sharif urged her to play her rolein convincing India to stop the use of force against thepeople in the region. He said Pakistan’s support for Kashmiri people "in theirlegitimate struggle for self determination and its commitmentto the Kashmir cause are non-negotiable." However, Sharif’s repeated calls to the UN to help resolvethe Kashmir dispute appeared to be gaining no traction as UNSecretary General Ban Ki-moon made no reference to Kashmir inhis final speech to the UNGA as the UN chief. At the opening session of the General Debate yesterday,Ban touched upon a cross-section of global issues includingthe Syrian crisis, the Palestinian issue, the refugee andmigrant movements and tension in the Korean Peninsula. Kashmir will be the focal point of Sharif’s address to theUN General Assembly tomorrow. Tension have heightened between India and Pakistan in thewake of the attack by heavily-armed militants, suspected to befrom Pakistan, on an army base in Uri in which 18 jawans died. Ban has repeatedly said his "good offices" are availableto help resolve the Kashmir dispute only if both India andPakistan request for it, a clear indication that the issue isbilateral and should be solved by the two countries only. PTIYASABH