Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi “to sit down and talk”, seeking peaceful resolution of all issues including the Kashmir dispute.
Premier Shehbaz also highlighted the impact of climate change resulting in the devastating rain-induced floods in Pakistan in his maiden address to the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Friday.
“I will be most forthcoming to sit down and talk to our Indian counterpart to pave the way forward for future so that our generations do not suffer so that we spend our resources in mitigating miseries, on building structures to face these floods and outbursts of clouds,” he said.
He added, “We want to have peace with India but long-lasting and enduring peace can only be guaranteed through a just and fair solution of Kashmir. Providing the rights to the people of Kashmir under UN Charter according to Security Council resolutions.”
He said that developing countries don’t have unlimited resources and the available resources should be spent on the well-being of the people.
Shehbaz said that Pakistan’s urgent priority right now is to ensure rapid economic growth and lift millions out of destitution and hunger, saying to enable any such policy momentum, Pakistan needs a stable external environment.
“We look for peace with all our neighbours, including India. Sustainable peace and stability in South Asia, however, remain contingent upon a just and lasting solution to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. At the heart of this longstanding dispute lies the denial of the inalienable right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination,” he added.
The premier said that India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, to change the internationally recognised “disputed” status of Jammu and Kashmir and to alter the demographic structure of the occupied territory further undermined the prospects of peace and inflamed regional tensions.
“India’s relentless campaign of repression against Kashmiris has continued to grow in scale and intensity. In pursuit of this heinous goal. New Delhi has ramped up its military deployments in occupied Jammu and Kashmir to 900,000 troops, thus making it the most militarised zone in the world,” he added.
Read more: Biden ‘determined’ to continue helping flood-ravaged Pakistan
The prime minister said that the serial brutalisation of Kashmiris takes many forms: extrajudicial killings, incarceration, custodial torture and death, indiscriminate use of force, deliberate targeting of Kashmiri youth with pellet guns, and “collective punishments” imposed on entire communities.
“In a classic settler-colonial project, India is seeking to turn the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu-majority territory, through illegal demographic changes.”
PM Shehbaz said that millions of fake “domicile certificates” have been issued to non-Kashmiris. “Kashmiri land and properties are being seized; electoral districts have been Jerry Mandered; and over 2.5 million non-Kashmiri illegal voters fraudulently registered. All this is in blatant violation of Security Council resolutions and international law, particularly the 4th Geneva Convention,” he added.
He said that the Pakistani people have always stood by Kashmiri brothers and sisters in complete solidarity, and will continue to do so until their right to self-determination is fully realised in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
“I assure the world from this august platform, that we in Pakistan remain consistent in our commitment to peace in South Asia. India must take credible steps to create enabling environment for constructive engagement. It should demonstrate its sincerity and willingness, to walk the path of peace and dialogue by reversing its illegal steps of August 15, 2019, and ending forth-with, the process of demographic change.”
He said that Pakistan hoped the world body and the Secretary-General will play their rightful role in urging India to implement the long-pending UN resolutions.
Pakistan’s ‘vital stake’ in Afghanistan
Premier Shehbaz said that Afghanistan presents a unique challenge as 30 million are left without a functional economy and banking system that allows ordinary Afghans to make a living to be able to build a better future.
“Pakistan would also like to see an Afghanistan which is at peace with itself and the world, and which respects and nurtures all its citizens, without regard to gender, ethnicity and religion.”
The prime minister said that Pakistan is working to encourage respect for the rights of Afghan girls and women to education and work. “Yet, at this point, isolating the Afghan interim government could aggravate the suffering of the Afghan people, who are already destitute.”
He said that constructive engagement and economic support are more likely to secure a positive response. “A peaceful, prosperous and connected Afghanistan is in our collective interest. As a neighbour, Pakistan has a vital stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan. We have led the humanitarian efforts to help our Afghan brothers and sisters,” he added.
“We must avoid another civil war, rising terrorism, drug trafficking or new refugees – which none of Afghanistan’s neighbours is in a position to accommodate.”
PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan urges the international community to respond in a positive way to the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for $4.2 billion in humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan; release Afghanistan’s financial reserves, essential to revive its banking system.
He said that Pakistan shares the key concern of the international community regarding the threat posed by the major terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan, especially ISIL-K and TTP as well as Al-Qaida, ETIM and IMU.
“They all need to be dealt with comprehensively, with the support and cooperation of the Interim Afghan authorities. In turn, the international community should address Afghanistan’s dire humanitarian needs,” he added.
Climate catastrophe
Talking about the devastating floods in the country, Premier Shehbaz said that no words can describe the shock Pakistanis are living through or how the face of the country lies transformed.
“I have come here to explain first-hand, the scale and magnitude of this climate catastrophe that has pushed one-third of my country underwater in a super storm that no one has seen in living memory,” he added.
The prime minister said that huge swathes of the country are still under-water, submerged in an ocean of human suffering. “In this ground zero of climate change, 33 million people, including women and children are now at high risk from health hazards, with 650,000 women giving birth in makeshift tarpaulins. For 40 days and 40 nights a biblical flood poured down on us, smashing centuries of weather records, challenging everything we knew about the disaster, and how to manage it.”
Shehbaz Sharif also said that more than 1,500 people have perished in the great flood, including over 400 children and far more are in peril from disease and malnutrition. “As we speak, millions of climate migrants are still looking for dry land to pitch their tents on, with heart-breaking losses to their families, their futures and their livelihoods.”
He said that the early estimates suggest that more than 13,000km of metalled roads have been damaged, over 370 bridges have been swept away, a million homes have been destroyed and another million damaged.
“More than a million farm animals have been killed. Four million acres of crops have been washed away, stripping the people of their breadbasket, and damage of an unimaginable scale,” he added.
“Life in Pakistan has changed forever’
The prime minister said that Pakistan has never seen a more stark and devastating example of the impact of global warming “Life in Pakistan has changed forever. Through this calamity, I have visited, and spent time in every corner of my devastated country. People in Pakistan ask why, why has happened to them? When global warming rips apart whole families and an entire country at this ferocious speed, it is time to ask why, and time to ask not what can be done but what must be done,” he added.
PM Shehbaz said that the undeniable, and inconvenient truth is that this calamity has not been triggered by anything Pakistan has done. “Our glaciers are melting fast, our forests are burning, and our heat waves have crossed 53°C, making us the hottest place on the planet.”
The premier said that Pakistan was living through the unprecedented monster monsoon. It is literally a monsoon on steroids, as the UN secretary-general described it most befittingly. One thing is very clear: What happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan.”
He said that hotspots like Pakistan fall in the 10 most climate-vulnerable list of countries, but emit less than one per cent of the greenhouse gasses that are burning the planet. “It is, therefore, entirely reasonable to expect some approximation of justice for this loss and damage, not to mention building back better with resilience.
“Clearly, the time for talk about actions has passed. At this point, I am profoundly grateful that the UN SG Antonio Guterres visited Pakistan where he spent time with climate refugees, with mothers and children in the tents, and repeatedly assured us of his support and assistance.”
Insurmountable challenges
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the impacts on the health and wealth of the country are beyond calculation at this point. “So my real worry is about the next stage of this challenge. When the cameras leave, and the story just shifts away to conflicts like Ukraine, my question is, will we be left alone, to cope with a crisis we did not create,” he questioned.
He said that the country was finding it hard on how to bring the rehabilitation and reconstruction process despite the ongoing rescue and relief effort being underway for 12 weeks.
“For many of the lives we have saved, the future is dimmed by new fragility, lost homes, decimated livelihoods, deluged croplands, permanent food insecurity and exposure to uncertain futures,” he added.
He said that some 11 million people will be pushed further below the poverty line, while others will drift to cramped urban shelters, leaving little room for climate-smart rebuilding.
“For now, we have mobilised all available resources towards the national relief effort, and repurposed all budget priorities including development funds, to the rescue and first-order needs of millions,” he added.
The premier said that cash transfers to the most affected, 4 million women heads of household, had begun weeks ago via Benazir Income Support Programme, amounting to Rs70 billion.
“But at this point, the gap between our urgent needs and available resources is amplified by the sheer, unprecedented scale of the disaster. Our manpower and resources are totally overwhelmed,” he added.
“The question to raise here though is quite a simple one. Why are my people paying the price of such high global warming through no fault of their own? Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking at our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this.”
He said that the dual costs of global inaction and climate injustice are having a crippling effect on both Pakistan’s treasury and its people.
“This is going to be a long haul, we can see that under the most trying circumstances, hope is the best enemy of darkness, and Pakistanis are known to be exceptionally resilient people. For my part, I am fully committed to fighting this battle for our survival, in the tents and trenches with my people, until we have rebuilt Pakistan to face the growing challenges of this century,” he added.
He further said that it was high time to take a pause from the preoccupations of the 20th century to return to the challenges of the 21st.
“The entire definition of national security has changed today, and unless the leaders of the world come together to act now behind minimum agreed agenda, there will be no earth to fight wars over. Nature will be fighting back, and for that humanity is no match,” the prime minister added.
‘Islamophobia is a global phenomenon’
Premier Shehbaz said that Pakistan strongly condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. “Terrorism does not have a religion. It is based on dogma, fuelled by poverty, deprivation, injustice and ignorance, and fanned by vested interests,” he added.
He said that Pakistan is the principal victim of terrorism and over the last two decades, it has suffered more than 80,000 casualties and over $150 billion in economic losses due to terrorist attacks.
“Our armed forces, with the support of our people, have broken the back of terrorism within Pakistan. Yet, we continue to suffer terrorist attacks from across our borders, sponsored and financed by our regional adversary. We are determined to defeat such cross-border terrorism,” he added.
The prime minister said that Islamophobia is a global phenomenon and since 9/11, suspicion and fear of Muslims and discrimination against them have escalated to epidemic proportions.
“The officially sponsored campaign of oppression against India’s over 200 million Muslims is the worst manifestation of Islamophobia. They are subjected to discriminatory laws and policies, Hijab bans, attacks on mosques, and lynchings by Hindu mobs. I am particularly concerned by the calls for ‘genocide’ against India’s Muslims by some extremist groups,” he added.
Earlier this year, Shehbaz said, UNGA adopted a landmark resolution, introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC, designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. “It is my sincere hope that this should lead to concrete measures by the UN and member states to combat Islamophobia and promote interfaith harmony.”
The prime minister said that Pakistan is deeply concerned by the numerous conflicts across the Middle East – including in Syria and Yemen.
“We support all possible efforts to promote their peaceful resolution. We call on Israel to put an immediate end to the blatant use of force and flagrant violations of human rights of the Palestinian people and the repeated desecration of the Holy Al Aqsa mosque,” he added.
He said that the only just, comprehensive and lasting solution of the Palestinian question is the acceptance of a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian state, with the pre-1967 borders, and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Premier Shehbaz said that the Security Council and the General Assembly must be empowered to play their respective roles under the UN Charter. “The Security Council must be expanded by adding 11 new non-permanent members to make it more representative, democratic, transparent, effective and accountable. Adding new permanent members will paralyse the council’s decision-making, enlarge its representational deficit, and create new centres of privilege in violation of the principle of sovereign equality of member states,” he added.
He said that peace must be restored in Europe, avoid a war in Asia and resolve festering conflicts across the world. “We must revive the vision which created the United Nations, a vision which is often blurred by national interests and hegemonic designs.”
He went on to say that Pakistan is a partner for peace. “We will work with all those committed to the UN charter’s principles – to restore the vision which created the United Nations and to equip this Organisation with the capacity to preserve global peace and promote universal prosperity,” he further said.
Source link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2378195/pm-seeks-peace-with-india-to-spend-resources-on-natural-calamity