Pakistan's Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will chair a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting later this week focused on settling international disputes peacefully. The meeting is part of Pakistan’s presidency of the UNSC for July, during its current two-year term as a non-permanent member (2025–2026), Hindustan Times reported.
Speaking at a press conference on July 1, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said, “It is time for the Kashmir dispute to be addressed. It is incumbent upon the Council, especially the permanent members, to take concrete steps to ensure the implementation of their own resolutions.”
India is expected to issue a strong rebuttal if the matter is raised. A senior Indian diplomat, speaking anonymously to The Hindu, reiterated that “Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter of India”, and any attempts to internationalize it will be met with diplomatic pushback.
The Jammu and Kashmir issue has historically appeared on the UN’s agenda since the late 1940s. However, India has consistently rejected third-party mediation
Parallely, Pakistan is also seeking to elevate the role of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the UN. The OIC, comprising 57 member states, has repeatedly criticized India’s handling of the Kashmir issue, especially post-2019.
While the UN General Assembly Resolution called for cooperation between the UN and the OIC in peacebuilding and human rights, India has expressed concern about the OIC’s role, given its partisan positions on domestic Indian matters.
India is reportedly working with France, the UK, and the United States, to ensure that the OIC does not become an institutional partner in a way that could “legitimize one-sided narratives”, according to diplomats quoted by The Indian Express.
India argues that the OIC’s geographically dispersed and politically non-neutral structure makes it an unsuitable counterpart in South Asia-related discussions.
In the next term, after Pakistan, the presidency will hand to Panama at the end of July.
India, meanwhile, is actively campaigning to return to the UNSC as a non-permanent member for the 2028–2029 term, a seat it last held in 2021–2022.
