UN chief urges all parties to avoid escalation in Kashmir during his meeting with PM Modi

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to avoid any sort of escalation in Kashmir during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in the French town of Biarritz, according to his spokesman.

Addressing a press briefing here, Secretary-General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said that the two leaders had a "long and fruitful discussion" on climate change, on climate issues.

Responding to a question, he said the issue of Kashmir did come up during their meeting.

"For the Secretary-General's part, he reiterated the message that he has been saying publicly, and that's basically a need for all parties to avoid any sort of escalation," Dujarric said.

The two leaders were in France to attend the G7 Summit.

Briefing the reporters in Biarritz on Monday, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that there was some discussion on Kashmir between Prime Minister Modi and the UN chief.

"Prime Minister has laid out our basic position, on the internal matter that the Article 370 is under the Constitution, on the fact that on the international front no step has been taken by India in any way or form to threaten regional peace and stability," Gokhale said responding to a question.

The prime minister told Guterres that normalcy is returning to Jammu and Kashmir, and that in many areas restrictions have been substantially eased or entirely removed, he said.

Gokhale said the prime minister also underlined that the "people in the state have faced terrorism for 30 or more years and this is the primary threat, this is our concern and that therefore in keeping with that certain restrictions will remain in place to ensure that law and order is maintained and will be progressively lifted."