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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Peter Thomson, president-elect of the 71st UNGA, arrives in New Delhi
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Peter Thomson, president-elect of the 71st UNGA, arrives in New Delhi

Peter Thomson to hold talks with foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday

Peter Thomson. Photo: ReutersPremium
Peter Thomson. Photo: Reuters

Ambassador Peter Thomson, president-elect of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), arrived in New Delhi on Sunday on a two-day visit, a fortnight before the start of the UNGA session in New York that is likely to see a spillover of verbal duels between India and Pakistan over the issue of alleged human rights violations in Kashmir and Balochistan.

Thompson is the permanent representative of Fiji to the UN and his visit will provide India “with an opportunity to hear from him about his plans and priorities for the 71st GA (General Assembly)", Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters in New Delhi last week.

“Indian UN officials will also be briefing the PGA (president of the general assembly)-elect about India’s priorities in the forthcoming UNGA, particularly on those issues that directly pertain to the functioning of the UN General Assembly. This includes strengthening the international legal framework to combat terrorism for which the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) is important, providing further impetus to the ongoing Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) process on United Nations Security Council reform, revitalizing the functioning of the UNGA itself and implementation issues pertaining to Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Swarup said.

India has been pushing for the passage of the CCIT since 1996, which will bring all terrorism-related UN conventions under one umbrella, which New Delhi says will give it more teeth. But the definition of terrorism has divided members of the 193-member General Assembly, with some members unable to agree on the distinction between terrorism and militant freedom struggles.

India is also seeking a seat among the veto-wielding members in a revamped UN Security Council, whose resolutions are binding on all member states. India, Germany, Brazil and Japan are demanding a change in the composition of the UN’s highest decision-making body.

Thomson’s main engagements are in New Delhi on Monday and include talks with foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thomson’s arrival on Sunday almost coincided with Pakistan’s announcement on Saturday that it was appointing 22 parliamentarians as special envoys “for fighting the Kashmir cause in different parts of the world", escalating the ongoing row with India over the unrest in Kashmir following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani.

“I am standing behind these special envoys to ensure their toil for highlighting the Kashmir cause resonates across the world so that I can shake the collective conscience of the international community during my address at the UN this September," Sharif was quoted as saying by Dunya News on Saturday.

Verbal sniping between India and Pakistan has increased in recent weeks over the killing of Wani and unrest in Kashmir that India says is fomented by Pakistan. Almost 70 people have been killed since the start of the unrest last month following the death of Wani, who India says was a militant who belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen, once the dominant militant group in Kashmir.

Pakistan’s description of Wani as a “Kashmiri leader" angered India, as did its offer to send relief material to Kashmir, which has been under curfew for many days.

Pakistan’s observance of 20 July as a “Black Day" to protest the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir as well as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement that Kashmir would be part of Pakistan did not help matters.

That Pakistan has left no stone unturned in its efforts to internationalize the Kashmir issue has also riled India—prompting Modi to take an unusual step in his Independence Day speech and refer to Pakistan’s human rights record in Balochistan, where the Pakistan military is suppressing unrest.

Just days before the Independence Day speech, Modi also told a meeting of political parties on the Kashmir issue in New Delhi that people living in India would reach out to Kashmiris living in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to acquaint them about the situation there.

Foreign minister Swaraj, who is set to lead the Indian delegation in the UNGA session, is expected to refer to the human rights situation in Balochistan in her speech.

The sparring between the two countries comes after a seeming thaw in ties in December when the national security advisers of the two countries met in Bangkok and discussed terrorism and other disputes between the two countries including Kashmir. Swaraj and Modi also visited Pakistan in December.

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Published: 29 Aug 2016, 01:08 AM IST
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