NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi, Monday cautioned US that ongoing troubles with India in Kashmir threaten Pakistan’s attention and considerable influence in a potential peace agreement aimed at ending an 18-year conflict involving US and Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
“The current crisis between Pakistan and India will obviously mean that Pakistan will have to put its full focus on its eastern border and it could affect what it is trying to do on the front with Afghanistan,” Maleeha Lodhi told Fox News. “In other words, our full focus is going to be on the eastern frontier rather than the western front and that could affect the peace process. Our attention is going to be where we feel there is a military threat to us.”
And Pakistan believes that threat is from the Indian border, Lodhi emphasized.
Indian officials have for decades tried to suppress the separatist insurgency, which gained momentum in the late 1980s with the backing or at least the quiet acceptance of Pakistan, according to many observers in the international community. Pakistan has denied such accusations and consistently accuses India of committing mass human rights violations against the Kashmiri population.
India has asked Pakistan “over and over” to hand over actionable intelligence pointing to specific terrorist groups in the region. Some information has been passed along in recent days, and India is currently evaluating that information for certifiable proof of militant activity.
“But simply to hurl allegations because of your own failure is not a responsible way to act,” Lodhi charged. “Nor does it bring peace to our region.”
