Pak may raise Kashmir issue in UN Assembly: Shashi Tharoor

Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor today said there was the "risk" of Pakistan raising the Kashmir issue again in the United Nations General Assembly.

"As you know, they have raised it in the General Assembly in the opening speech and there is the risk of them raising it again," Tharoor, who was nominated as a member of the Indian delegation for the UN assembly, told reporters here.

Tharoor was reacting to queries on the possibility of the Kashmir issue figuring in the UN General Assembly session.

"It could become... depending upon whether Pakistan chooses to raise it in the UN," Tharoor said, without elaborating.

Last month Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi raked up the Kashmir issue at UN General Assembly saying Kashmir dispute is about the exercise of the right to "self-determination" by Kashmiri people through a "free, fair and impartial plebiscite" under the UN auspices.

On India's election as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, Tharoor said "It is very important because it is 19 years since we got a seat (on the vital body of the United Nations)."

"India's voice is always heard in the high table on all important international issues," Tharoor, a former UN diplomat and now a member of the Lok Sabha, said.