United Nation, May 5 – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will hold closed consultations on Monday to discuss rising tensions between India and Pakistan, following Islamabad’s request for an emergency meeting after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir last month.
Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Council, called for the meeting in the wake of an April 22 attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. Greece, which holds the Council presidency for May, scheduled the meeting for Monday afternoon.
Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris of Greece said the meeting could serve as a platform to exchange views and potentially ease tensions. “As a position of principle, we strongly condemn any act of terrorism,” he told reporters last week, adding that Greece had extended condolences to the governments of India and Nepal and to the victims’ families.
India has blamed cross-border terrorism for the Pahalgam attack and has urged the international community to hold the perpetrators accountable. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken with all Council members except China and Pakistan in recent days, underlining the need to bring those responsible to justice.
In a conversation with Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, Jaishankar welcomed Greece’s opposition to cross-border terrorism, describing it as reflective of the “depth of our Strategic Partnership.”
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the situation poses a serious threat to regional and international peace. “We have the right to convene a meeting when we feel appropriate,” he said, adding that the context of the tensions lies in the ongoing situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistani envoy also met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week to brief him on the regional security climate. Ahmad said Islamabad had consulted both the current and previous UNSC presidencies before formally requesting the consultations.
The Security Council includes five permanent members with veto power – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – and 10 rotating non-permanent members, including Pakistan, Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia.
