The United Nations is an International Organization that was formed on 24th October 1945 and has its headquarters located in New York, USA (Britannica, 2021). Its conception took place when a similar organization, the “League of Nations” failed to fulfill its objectives (Taylor). The UN clearly serves the purpose to ensure Peace and Security, improving the economic conditions of a country, and encouraging the Social Development of States. Furthermore, the UN also aims to safeguard human rights and the environment (Britannica, 2021). The United Nations also has a comprehensive charter which consists of 19 chapters and 111 articles that both the UN and its member states have to comply (History, 2021).
The UN composes of Six main organs with the UN Security Council being the most pertinent committee. The Security Council deals mainly with the perpetuation of International Peace and Security. It has five permanent members and the decisions taken by the Security Council are indissoluble and are considered to be permanent. Security Council has drafted a framework of three steps when faced with a conflict that poses a menace to international peace. Firstly, it tries to settle disputes through negotiations and peaceful agreements through mediation. Secondly, if the tension can’t be solved through peaceful discussions and fighting intensifies between the two parties, then the Security Council tries to introduce a ceasefire and drafts out a “Peacekeeping” mission that ensures that no further fights take place. Thirdly, if the first two steps fail then UNSC imposes economic sanctions, travel restrictions, or an arms embargo. This article aims to analyze whether UNSC was able to follow and implement all these three steps successfully in order to hinder the severe tension in Indian-occupied Kashmir that resulted in a lockdown and massive killings (Taylor).
After the long opposition of the current sitting Government of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, on 5 August 2019, the Indian government decided to repudiate Article 370 of their constitution which granted the Indian-occupied Kashmir full freedom in lifestyle and lawmaking, and a special status (Al Jazeera, 2019) (Rifat Fareed, 2020). In return, the people of Kashmir felt quite deceived and this abrogation caused massive unrest resulting in intense protests by the Kashmiris (BBC, 2019). In retaliation the Indian Government imposed a full lockdown in Kashmir which continued for almost two years, banning all communication networks, political activities, and movement in and out of the area (Rifat Fareed, 2020). This seriously disturbed the lives of Kashmiris as their freedom was completely snatched from them. During this lockdown, many innocent civilians were put to Big sleep as a result of their reprimanding. Severe casualties occurred as a result of this transgression by the Indian government.
Upon hearing about the situation in Kashmir, Pakistan’s foreign minister immediately penned down a letter to the UN Secretary-General requesting him to summon a UNSC session on the situation in Kashmir (Syed, 2019). The UN also stated this a matter of “deep concern” and immediately called a closed-door session of the UNSC (BBC, 2019). UNSC, as it took the first step to solve this dilemma urged to solve this matter by dialogue and take meaningful decisions according to charter VI of the UN which calls for “Pacific settlement of disputes” (United Nations, 2021). Furthermore, the UNSC also urged to deal with the state of Kashmir according to the 11 resolutions passed by the UNSC council regarding Kashmir that talks about peace and settlement of discord within Kashmir (Syed, 2019) Pakistan along with many other states stressed solving this matter according to the UN charter and resolutions but, India called this issue an “Internal matter” of India and reprimanded the UN mediation within Kashmir (BBC, 2019).
This session didn’t reach the press and the session was considered to be a failed session because UN mediation wasn’t warmly welcomed, and no decision could be reached. Even after calling the UNSC meeting for the third time in 2020, the UN hesitated t released any statement regarding Kashmir and all the sessions were titled a “Failure” (Business Standard, 2019).
After the negotiations fail, UNSC announces a ceasefire or sends an army for Peacekeeping in the disputed territory. UN had already introduced a ceasefire in Kashmir in 1949 and later sent a military observer group in Kashmir, called the “UNMOGIP” for peacekeeping and to mitigate any sort of disturbance caused within Kashmir by India or Pakistan, which remains in action till the present day. However, by causing unrest in Kashmir since 2019, India, its actions in Kashmir has clearly violated the ceasefire and the UNSC resolutions regarding Kashmir but, the UN remains silent and no proper investigation has been carried out by the UN to discover the reason for India’s violations (United Nations, n.d.). Furthermore, the UN also imposed a global ceasefire to stop any military operations in order to hinder Corona Virus, but India seemed to surpass that ceasefire boundary and continued to implement its stringent policies within Kashmir. However, the UN’s hands remained tied on this transgression as well(Omer Aijazi, 2020).
Whenever Peacemaking missions and ceasefires fail, then the UNSC imposes economic sanctions or certain bans on the country causing unrest. After the failure of UNSC sessions and the UN’s disability to hinder the violations of the ceasefire by India, the UN didn’t impose any kind of sanctions or bans on India or Pakistan. However, Pakistan demoted its ties with India expelling its trade and diplomatic relations because of the Indian atrocities on Muslim Majority Kashmir areas (BBC, 2019).
From the analysis, it is evident that India has clearly stripped Kashmiris of their rights and status which poses a serious threat to international communities because Indian atrocities are directed towards only the Muslim Majority areas of Kashmir. The atrocities carried out within Muslim-majority Kashmir areas have caused significant unrest within Pakistan because of the sentiment attached to Kashmir. Furthermore, as both countries are nuclear powers, this rings the threatening alarms of nuclear war which can possibly disrupt the world order. The failure of the UNSC to reach an agreement about this immensely tense matter raises eyebrows and questions about the neutrality of such peacemaking organizations. To the present day, the UN offers its mediation within the present Kashmir issue, but the flat denial of India also depicts that the member states of the UN don’t hold the UN in high esteem.
It was also stated that the third meeting of the UNSC regarding the Kashmir crisis was “informal”, which depicts the level of interest and light the UNSC wants to shed on such a grave matter. Moving on, I believe that the failure of the UN Security Council in reaching a peaceful agreement, and its silence over many violations by India clearly shows the weakness of the UN in solving this matter effectively and stopping a country (India) which has clearly violated the International Law. Lastly, the preamble to the UN charter also talks about the development and freedom of People within the world but the debacle of the UN in solving the Kashmir crisis dispenses information about the extent to which the UN is fulfilling its promises within its charter. To sum up, I conclude that opting for silence in an immensely serious issue like Kashmir could worsen the situation in the future so in order to avoid it, this issue needs to be rectified very tactfully and with strength.
Bibliography:
Al Jazeera. (2019, October 27). Kashmir Under Lockdown: All the latest updates. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/27/kashmir-under-lockdown-all-the-latest-updates
BBC. (2019, August 5). Article 370: Former Chief Minister Says India Has Betrayed Kashmir. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49231620
BBC. (2019, August 6). Article 370: What Happened With Kashmir And Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49234708
BBC. (2019, August 7). Kashmir dispute: Pakistan Downgrades Ties With India. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49267912
BBC. (2019, August 8). Kashmir Dispute: UN ‘Deeply Concerned’ Over Restrictions. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49273999
Britannica. (2021, January 21). United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations
Business Standard. (2019, August 17). With No Outcome Or Press Statement, UNSC meets on Kashmir deals blow to Pak. Retrieved from https://www.business-standard.com: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/pak-s-efforts-to-internationalise-kashmir-snubbed-as-unsc-consultations-end-without-outcome-119081700370_1.html
History. (2021).
Omer Aijazi. (2020, May 8). India Uses Coronavirus Pandemic To Exploit Human Rights in Kashmir. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com: https://theconversation.com/india-uses-coronavirus-pandemic-to-exploit-human-rights-in-kashmir-137682
Rifat Fareed, M. K. (2020, August 4). Kashmir: A year of Lockdown And Lost Autonomy. Retrieved from https://www.dw.com: https://www.dw.com/en/kashmir-a-year-of-lockdown-and-lost-autonomy/a-54437369
Syed, B. S. (2019, August 14). Pakistan Seeks Emergency UNSC Meet On Kashmir. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com: https://www.dawn.com/news/1499417/pakistan-seeks-emergency-unsc-meet-on-kashmir
Taylor, P. D. (n.d.). The United Nations. In P. D. Taylor, Globlalization of World Politics (pp. 305-318).
United Nations. (2021). Charter of the United Nations. Retrieved from https://legal.un.org: https://legal.un.org/repertory/art35.shtml
United Nations. (n.d.). India-Pakistan BackGround. Retrieved from https://peacekeeping.un.org:https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/unipombackgr.html
