UN must play role to settle Kashmir dispute: Pak Senate body head

The chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Pakistan Senate has urged the United Nations to play an efective role in settling the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India.

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Radio Pakistan tweeted, "Chairperson Senate body on Foreign Affairs urges UN to play role to settle #Kashmir dispute."

The Kashmir dispute is a territorial conflict between India, Pakistan, and to a limited degree, China.

It is said to have started just after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir, including wars in 1947 and 1965, as well as the Kargil War of 1999.

Both countries have also been involved in several skirmishes over control of the Siachen Glacier.

India claims the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, and, as of 2010, administers approximately 43 percent of the region. They control Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, Ladakh, and the Siachen Glacier.

India's claims are contested by Pakistan, which administers approximately 37 percent of Kashmir, namely Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas, or Gilgit-Baltistan.

China currently occupies Demchok District, the Shaksgam Valley, and the Aksai Chin region.

China's claim over these territories has been disputed by India since China took Aksai Chin during the Sino-Indian War of 1962.

The root of conflict between the Kashmiri insurgents and the Indian Government is tied to a dispute over local autonomy.

The New York-based United Nations Security Council (UNSC) issued two resolutions between 1948 and 1949 with regard to the Kashmir Dispute. The first resolution (Resolution No.47) calls for a plebiscite to be held for Kashmir's citizens. It also called for observers in Kashmir and an enlargement of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan's (UNCIP) membership. The second resolution issued on January 5, 1949, states that the question of the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India or Pakistan will be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite.

As per the 1948 and 1949 UNCIP Resolutions, both countries accept the principle, that Pakistan secures the withdrawal of Pakistani intruders followed by withdrawal of Pakistani and Indian forces, as a basis for the formulation of a truce agreement whose details are to be arrived in future, followed by a plebiscite;

However, both countries have so far failed to arrive at a truce agreement due to differences in interpretation of the procedure for and extent of demilitarisation one of them being whether the Azad Kashmiri army is to be disbanded during the truce stage or the plebiscite stage.