Pak PM Sought UN Action on Kashmir Dispute

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for the United Nations to help mediate between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"This is a potential flashpoint," Khan said on Wednesday during a media briefing at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding that it was time for the international institutions, specifically set up to stop this to come into action.

Khan said his biggest fear was how New Delhi would respond to the continuing protests in India over a citizenship law that many feel targets Muslims.

"We're not close to a conflict right now ... What if the protests get worse in India, and to distract attention from that, what if ..."

Although, he said, the two nuclear-armed neighbors were not close to an all-out war, the international community, including the UN, "must act" to avert tensions between the two sides from hitting "a point of no return".

Hussain said Pakistan is desperate to draw the attention of the international community to the problem.

"What he [Khan] is saying, one can only interpret it, probably he is referring to the situation in Kashmir, where there is a likelihood of things getting out of control once the lockdown is lifted," he said.

"In this kind of situation, there is always a danger of things spilling over and sucking Pakistan into the conflict that could lead to a wider conflagration."

Khan said he had discussed the prospect of war between his country and India a day earlier in a meeting with US President Donald Trump, who said he had offered to help mediate between the two countries.

But New Delhi has rejected any foreign mediation on the issue that brought the neighbors on the brink of war last February.

Source: AL Jazeera