Pakistan, Sept. 28 -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned Kashmir to the centre of Pakistan's case before the United Nations on Friday with a reminder aimed as much at the world body as at India.

"For eight decades, the Kashmiri people have waited for the United Nations to fulfil its solemn commitment of a free and impartial plebiscite," he told the 81st UN General Assembly. Before leaving the subject, he called Kashmir Pakistan's "jugular vein."

Long before Pakistan's present political parties existed, its leaders were arriving in New York with essentially the same complaint: the United Nations had taken up Kashmir, set out a route towards determining its future, and then watched the dispute survive war after war, government after g...