UN Security Council Holds Informal Talks on India-Pakistan Tensions, No Statement Issued

New Delhi: After six years, India-Pakistan tensions returned to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Monday (May 6), discussed behind closed doors without any statements emerging from the meeting.

On Monday afternoon in New York, representatives of the Council’s fifteen member states met behind closed doors for informal consultations for an agenda titled “The India-Pakistan question”.

The meeting, which lasted 90 minutes, was convened at Pakistan’s request.

Islamabad is currently serving a two-year term on the Council as a non-permanent member.

In the closed-door format, only Council members and UN officials are permitted to participate, so India was not invited.

After the meeting, no press statement was issued, indicating a lack of consensus among the members.

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar, told reporters that Islamabad’s objectives were “largely served and achieved” by the discussion.

“Several members recognised the imperative of peacefully resolving all issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” he said at a press stakeout.

Iftikhar also said all members “categorically condemned” the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which left 26 civilians dead, the worst such toll in 17 years.

However, he added that Pakistan “categorically rejected” India’s allegations of its involvement.

On April 23, India had alleged “cross-border linkages” in the Pahalgam attack and announced a set of punitive measures, including keeping the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty under review until Pakistan “irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.

Islamabad responded the next day with retaliatory steps to downgrade bilateral ties and warned that any attempt to block the Indus River’s waters would be treated as an “act of war”.

India did not issue a formal statement after the UNSC meeting, but official sources told reporters that several Council members had posed “tough questions” to Pakistan.

The Pakistani diplomat had “expressed grave concern” about India’s “military buildup and inflammatory public statements”.

Indian sources, meanwhile, said concerns were expressed over Pakistan’s missile testing and its nuclear rhetoric. Pakistan had previously warned that any attempt to impede river flows would be met with the “full spectrum of national power”.

Some Pakistani ministers had even alleged that the Pahalgam attack was a “false flag” operation – a claim that, according to Indian sources, was challenged during the meeting.

Pakistan also claimed that Council members had called for “dialogue, de-escalation and peaceful resolution of disputes”. However, Indian sources didn’t mention this.

Most members of the UNSC, including permanent members like the US, the UK and Russia, as well as non-permanent members such as Slovenia and Greece – currently holding the Council presidency – have publicly called for de-escalation.

While they have condemned the terror attack and supported calls for justice, none have directly named Pakistan.

While this was the first UNSC discussion on India-Pakistan tensions since the recent escalation, the Council had earlier issued a press statement on April 25 condemning the Pahalgam attack “in the strongest terms”.

That statement was the outcome of negotiations over a draft circulated by the US.

References to the Resistance Front, which India identifies as an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and which had claimed responsibility for the attack, were removed after objections from Pakistan.

Islamabad also reportedly resisted language that would have called on member states to cooperate with India to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Both elements had been included in the UNSC’s 2019 condemnation of the Pulwama terror attack, which ultimately led to cross-border strikes.

Even when the UNSC had condemned the terror attack on the Jaffar Express in Balochistan in March, the press statement had named the terror group, which had taken responsibility, as well as urged member states to “cooperate actively with the government of Pakistan” to ensure accountability.

The last time the Council discussed the India-Pakistan issue was on August 16, 2019, marking the first such meeting in nearly five decades.

This closed-door consultation was convened at China's request following India's revocation of Article 370 that had granted special constitutional status to Jammu and Kashmir.

No formal statement was issued after the meeting, and both India and Pakistan did not participate, as the session was limited to the Council's 15 members.