UNSC raps Pak, poses tough questions concerning J&K terror attack: Reports

United Nations, May 6 (IANS) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has pulled up Pakistan and asked tough questions concerning the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam at its closed session amid the escalating tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, reports said.

The members slammed Islamabad and questioned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba's involvement in the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people.

Though Pakistan claimed that the meeting largely served and achieved the objectives of the UNSC's meeting, reports showed that it flopped miserably.

In the meeting, which was called at the request of Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, he claimed that his country was not involved in the terror attack.

Though the session was a closed consultation and had no official records, the UNSC members called for dialogue and restraint to resolve the issues.

After the meeting on Monday, UNSC President Evangelos Sekeris told reporters, "The Security Council is always helpful in such efforts” to de-escalate. It is the responsibility of the Council. It was a productive and helpful meeting. Since the meeting was a closed consultation, its proceedings are secret without official records."

Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari, who briefed the meeting, said all want de-escalation. Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva, who attended the meeting, said, "We hope for de-escalation".

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation was at a "boiling point" and asked the two countries to "step back from the brink".

"It is also essential -- especially at this critical hour -- to avoid a military confrontation that could easily spin out of control," he said.

Condemning “strongly” the terrorist massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam last month, he said, "I understand the raw feelings following the awful terror attack”.

Notably, The Resistance Front (TRF), an affiliate of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, in which 25 Indians and one Nepalese national were killed.

--IANS

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