Pakistan’s UN representative tells Ban India’s surgical strikes claim “false”  

United Nations: Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi told Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that India's claim of carrying out a surgical strike across the Line of Control was false, according to the Pakistan mission here.

At the same time, however, she also asserted during the meeting that India had by its own admission committed aggression against Pakistan, the mission's statement said.

Ban's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the meeting was held at the request of Lodhi.

While he said that the UN does not provide details of meetings at the Permanent Representative level, he added, "I can obviously tell you that the secretary general is following the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan with great concern, the increased tensions along the LoC as well as the escalating rhetoric between the two countries."

Ban Ki-moon would welcome de-escalation initiatives for India-Pakistan tensions, he added.

Pakistan mission's statement said that Lodhi accused India of provoking a crisis to divert attention away from what she called the "indigenous Kashmiri uprising" and asked for Ban to intervene in the human rights issue there.

The statement also said that Ban offered offered his condolences for the deaths of two soldiers that Pakistan said were killed in cross-border firing and said that he was ready to use his good offices to help the neighbours resolve their problem.

IANS