Mubashar Naqvi
Muzafarabad
Emphasizing the need for building United Nations’ capacity to deal with the threats to peace, a Pakistani delegate has called on the Security Council to resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute by implementing its own resolutions that pledged the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people to decide their destiny.
“No amount of oppression and obfuscation by the occupying power – India – can extinguish the this inalienable right of the Kashmir people,” Saad Ahmed Warraich, counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations (UN), told the General Assembly on Wednesday.
“Today, this long neglected (Kashmir) dispute poses a grave threat to international peace and security,” he said, while participating in a debate on the secretary-general’s report on the work of the Organization.
“No other situation reflects the abdication of the UN’s responsibility to discharge its responsibilities more than the 70 year-old Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”
Pointing out that several UN resolutions recognize the right of Kashmiri people to self-determination, the Pakistani delegate said, “The United Nations and the Security Council cannot play a central role in preserving peace and world order if their resolutions, including on Jammu & Kashmir, continue to be challenged by outlaw States.”
Warraich therefore stressed the need to build the UN’s capacity to address the threats to peace before they erupt into war; to prevent disputes from escalating into conflict and to work “more boldly and actively” to resolve conflicts.
He lauded the UN chief for identifying hate speech, xenophobia and other divisive narratives, as serious challenges confronting the international community.
Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and fascism, he said, were all manifestations of these hate-filled ideologies.
“We have seen in our neighbourhood how communal politics is being utilized as a weapon to marginalize minorities including Muslims,” the Pakistani delegate said. “A concerted global action is required to effectively push-back against these fascist and totalitarian ideologies and terrorist groups that have emerged in several countries.”—APP
