UN chief urges Pakistan, India to defuse tensions over Kashmir

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is monitoring the worsening situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, especially reports about tightening restrictions and mass arrests, as he called for steps to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, his spokesman said.

“We obviously continue to follow the situation very closely in Jammu and Kashmir, (and) also reports of restrictions and detentions in the Indian-administered side of the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in response to a question about Monday’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Biarritz, France.

“The Secretary-General reiterates what he has been saying both publicly and privately to India and Pakistan to their leaders to exercise restraint and to take whatever steps they can to defuse tensions,” he added.