Pak writes to UN for intervention to Abate tensions with India

New Delhi, Feb 19: The Foreign Office said on Tuesday that Pakistan has sought the United Nation's urgent intervention to "defuse tensions" with India.

On February 14, at least 41 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in Kashmir's Pulwama district in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group.

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, seeking his help to reduce the tensions between the two countries, Pakistan foreign office said.

"It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India," Qureshi wrote in the letter.

India has rejected any third party intervention in the Kashmir issue and has maintained that all outstanding matters in Indo-Pak ties should be resolved bilaterally.

Qureshi, in his letter, said the Pulwama attack on Indian CRPF soldiers was ostensibly and even by Indian accounts carried out by a Kashmiri resident.

He said attributing the attack to Pakistan even before investigations was absurd.

He alleged that for domestic political reasons, India deliberately ratcheted up its hostile rhetoric against Pakistan and created a tense environment.

Qureshi wrote that India has also hinted that it may abandon the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that it would be a grievous error.

"It is imperative to take steps for de-escalation. The United Nations must step in to defuse tensions," Qureshi said.