New Delhi. March 10: India on Friday rejected a suggestion from the UN secretary general's office that the new chief of the international organisation may offer to mediate between New Delhi and Islamabad on Kashmir, iterating its traditional refusal to accept third-party involvement in negotiations on the state's future.
A senior Indian official said New Delhi's "position on addressing all issues between India and Pakistan bilaterally has not changed".
Antonio Guterres, the secretary general, "will talk to different officials if it helps move the process along", the UN chief's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York yesterday.
"That's something that he is looking into," Haq said, adding that Guterres "will look into the issue, and certainly, he will try to see what can be done to improve the situation on the ground".
Successive UN bosses have articulated concerns over India-Pakistan tensions on Kashmir, and the need for a resolution for the larger stability of South Asia.
But they have traditionally focused on prodding India and Pakistan to revive talks on their disputes.
India has long insisted that New Delhi and Islamabad settle all disputes bilaterally- a position that means it cannot accept Kashmiri separatists as a party to the dialogue either.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has for decades argued that Kashmir and those seeking greater autonomy from India should be included in talks.
Islamabad has also in the past welcomed mediation by the US and the UN.
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