Pakistan: Antonio Guterres listened patiently to Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir

Sharif last week raked up the Kashmir issue in his first meeting with the new UN Secretary General but got no positive response.

New York, Jan 24: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "very carefully" listened to what was said by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who discussed the Kashmir issue with him during a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"I think the Secretary-General listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister of Pakistan said. The Prime Minister presented the Secretary-General with a number of information. And I will leave it at that," Secretary General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing when asked about the Secretary-General's response to Sharif asking for India to hold talks with Pakistan.

Sharif last week raked up the Kashmir issue in his first meeting with the new UN Secretary General but got no positive response to his request for the world body's intervention on the issue. Sharif met Guterres on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos and said Kashmir needed attention of the UN, according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad.

"A sustained dialogue process on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir is essential to make progress. It was in this spirit that we invited India for discussions on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and aspirations of the Kashmiri people," Sharif had told the UN chief.

Sharif had said Pakistan looks forward to Guterres's leadership and good offices and the United Nations has longstanding responsibility to play a role in the resolution of these issues. Guterres gave no positive response to Sharif's demand.

PTI