India's Permanent Representative at UN Ruchira Kamboj

New York: Underscoring that the global order must be anchored in International law, Indian envoy at UN Ruchira Kamboj asked Armenia and Azerbaijan border to pursue diplomatic pathways to arrive at a lasting peaceful solution.

While speaking at the UNSC emergency briefing over the recent incidents of violence along the Armenia and Azerbaijan border the Indian Permanent Representative at UN Kamboj said, “It has been our consistent submission that such disputes should be settled through diplomacy and dialogue. There cannot be a military or violent solution to any conflict. We encourage both sides to pursue diplomatic pathways to arrive at a lasting peaceful solution.”

India reiterates that the global order must be anchored in International law, the UN charter and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the states, she exhorted.

“The UNSC’s informal deliberations were a timely beginning for us to seriously consider why the situation in focus in particular at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be tense. The violent hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh in September 2020 are still fresh in our minds. The recent reports of attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border including the targeting of civilian settlements and infrastructure are a matter of deep concern.”

She called upon the aggressor side to immediately cease hostilities and exercise restraint and noted that these actions pose a serious threat to the peace and stability in the region.

The envoy stressed that the UNSC cannot afford to stand by silently and let the situation deteriorate any further. “The November 9 ceasefire brokered by Russia as well as the Peace process mediated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group in Europe provides useful mechanisms to resolve all outstanding issues.”

In a recent flare-up, Azerbaijan said that 71 of its troops have been killed this week during border clashes with Armenia, which marked the worst fighting between the rival neighbours since their 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, reported Al Jazeera.

Armenia said 105 of its soldiers died in the violence, which each side blames on the other, the media portal added.

Notably, Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan with Armenian support after a bloody post-Soviet conflict in the early 1990s. In 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the region and Baku successfully won back part of the territory controlled by the separatists.

Under the terms of a subsequent ceasefire, Russian peacekeepers were deployed to protect the remainder of the separatist-held territory. Both sides accuse each other of breaches, and in recent days violence has flared.

The decades-long conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia escalated in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and left thousands of casualties on both sides. Russia mediated a trilateral ceasefire declaration in November of that year and the sides agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. This caused a political crisis in Armenia, where many view the ceasefire as a defeat in the prolonged conflict and blame Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.