China has pushed for a closed-door UN Security Counil meet on Jammu and Kashmir. (File)
The United Nations Security Council will hold a second closed-door meeting on Kashmir tonight in New York, sources told NDTV. The meeting, sources said, comes after push from China, the all-weather ally of Pakistan, which called for such meetings earlier as well.
A similar gathering was held in August, called by China after the government scrapped the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into two union territories.
But that meeting had fallen flat for Pakistan. The members did not censure India, agreeing that the centre's move in Jammu and Kashmir was an internal issue.
Another UNSC meeting on Kashmir, scheduled in December, was not held.
Except for China, all the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council - France, Russia, the US and the UK -- have consistently backed New Delhi's position that disputes between India and Pakistan are bilateral matters.
The US has said that developments in Jammu and Kashmir are an internal matter of India.
French diplomatic sources told NDTV that the position of France has not changed and is very clear -- that the Kashmir issue must be settled bilaterally. "As we have stated on several occasions and will continue to reiterate to our partners on the United Nations Security Council," a source said.
While many other countries have also backed India's position that this is an internal matter and a bilateral one, there have been concerns expressed about the detentions of political leaders and the internet restrictions. These concerns have been expressed by the US again last week.
India and Pakistan will not attend the closed-door meeting, since these are open only to permanent members of the Security Council. There will also be no statement, since such meetings are informal in nature.