The way forward

UNITED Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, while expressing his concern over what he said was the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan, has urged the neighbouring countries to come to its help. Mr Ban who was addressing a press conference in New Delhi must have had Afghanistan and India in mind when referring to neighbours but it was disappointing to see him not mentioning the role both countries have been playing to destabilize Pakistan. There should be little doubt that being the leader of the global body he would be aware of the nature of bilateral relations, especially the factor of illegal occupation of Kashmir by India. One had wished he urged it to respect UN resolutions on the dispute. Instead of condemning Indian atrocities in held Kashmir his stress on the need to continue the dialogue process amounted to sidestepping the focus from the core issue.