After his visit was postponed last month due to technical flight problems, the president of the United Nations General Assembly arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for a two-day visit. Volkan Bozkir, a Turkish diplomat, who was elected as the president of the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations in June this year, met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Monday to discuss a variety of regional, and international issues, including the lingering Kashmir dispute.
If navigated with the right realpolitik, these meetings could hold a lot of potential with regards to Pakistan’s struggle to empower the Kashmir cause on the international stage. President-elect Bozkir’s Turkish origin can only be helpful in this regard—he is the first president of the UNGA of Turkish origin, and this meeting comes at a time when Pakistan-Turkey relations are blossoming. The movement against India’s illegal annexation of Kashmir found new international momentum when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed fresh support for Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue, just days ahead of the completion of one year of the removal of Kashmir’s special status. Turkey’s strategic importance for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), along with China’s recent rifts with India, can bring about an environment where India could for the first time ever be held accountable for its fascist policies with regards to Kashmir.
The visit could not have come at a better time. Pakistan needs to play its cards right. The objective with this visit should be that the President-elect does not leave Pakistan without at least castigating India for its totalitarian actions in IIOK. While this is admittedly a difficult task, considering India has been let off the hook for decades due to its influence, the Kashmir issue perfectly aligns with the theme of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, which is commitment to multilateralism. The session would be incomplete if the biggest violation of multilateralism, India’s disregard of UN treaties to illegally annex Kashmir, was not discussed.
