NEW YORK (DNA) – Pakistan‘s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi on Friday said that the UN Security Council discussed the deteriorating situation in occupied Kashmir in the wake of Indian move to change the status of the held territory.

Talking to media along with Chinese envoy to the United Nations after the UNSC meeting in New York, she said all the fifteen permanent and non-permanent member countries attended the consultative session.

Lodhi said the meeting was briefed on the latest developments and the dismal human rights situation in occupied Kashmir.

Maleeha Lodhi said today‘s UNSC meeting has nullified Indian claims that Kashmir is their internal matter. Pakistani envoy said that voice of the Kashmiri people was heard today at the UNSC meeting and it is just a first step.

While talking to the media after the meeting, she expressed that this was the first step for the people of Kashmir. She continued saying that the SC meeting was convened at the request of the Pakistan which proved that Kashmir is a global matter.

The United Nations Security Council held a rare meeting on Kashmir after India stripped the region of its autonomy, sparking a row with Pakistan, diplomats said.

The meeting took place behind closed doors, the diplomats said.

It is extremely rare for the Security Council to discuss Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947.

The last time there was a full Security Council meeting on the Himalayan region was in 1965.

Parts of Kashmir that India controls have been under lockdown since August 4, with freedom of movement restricted and phones and the internet cut.

A day later, New Delhi scrapped Article 370 in the Indian constitution that had granted Kashmir special autonomy, splitting the state of Jammu and Kashmir in two and downgrading their status to union territories.

In a speech marking Indian Independence Day Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the decision was one of several “path-breaking” moves by his newly re-elected administration.

He said “fresh thinking” was needed after seven decades of failure to ensure harmony in the picturesque but tragic former kingdom, where tens of thousands have died in the past 30 years.

Pakistan observed “Black Day” on Thursday to coincide with India‘s independence day celebrations.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has warned of possible “ethnic cleansing” in Kashmir, replaced his Twitter profile photo with a black circle.

Kashmir has been the spark for two major wars and countless clashes between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals, most recently in February when they conducted tit-for-tat air strikes.