Credit:  Gary Raynaldo / Hundreds of American Sikhs, Kashmiris and Pakistanis rally Thursday Aug. 15, 2019 in Manhattan against India’s aggression against Pakistan. India nationalist  President  Modi is of  the position there  is no compromise, negotiation with those who misuse religion for political motives and promote separatism.

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED  NATIONS  –  NEW YORK –   UN Security Council members on Friday  August 16 are scheduled to hold consultations on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The stakes are high between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed nations facing each other over the explosive Kashmir issue.  The meeting, which was requested by Pakistan in a 13 August letter to the Security Council (S/2019/654) and subsequently called for by China, comes amidst a recent escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir. Heightened international attention to the longstanding Jammu and Kashmir dispute was sparked on 5 August, when India rescinded article 370 of its constitution, which provided semi-autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, and article 35-A, which limited property rights in Jammu and Kashmir to inhabitants of the region. Since that date, extensive communications restrictions were also reported in Indian-administered Kashmir—including blocking cell phone, land line and internet access—as well as limitations on freedom of assembly and movement, although some of these restrictions have reportedly been removed.  The last time there was a full Security Council meeting on the Himalayan region was in 1965.  As a closed-door meeting, the consultation’s proceedings are to be secret, without being broadcast or accessible to reporters.

Credit: By Gary Raynaldo /  Protesters supporting the Khalistan movement,  a Sikh separatist movement at  rally Thursday Aug. 15, 2019 in Manhattan in front of the India Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video /  American Sikhs, Kashmiris and Pakistanis rally Thursday Aug. 15, 2019 in Manhattan in front of the India Permanent Mission to the United Nations.