ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday said the stalemate in Kashmir, Iraq, Palestineand Libya raised pertinent questions about the role of United Nations in conflict resolution and the future of the world body dedicated to protection of human rights, equality, social progress and peace.
He was speaking to UN Assistant Secretary General and Global Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Ms Gerda Verburg, who called on him here at the Parliament House, a press release said.
The speaker said the downtrodden, under-nourished and poverty stricken people pinned their hopes on the United Nations which had yet to live upto its own charter.
He highlighted that the UN stood as a silent spectator while India reneged on the UN resolutions, launching violence, fake encounters, enforced disappearances, rapes, murders, and the use of pellet guns against defenceless population as its officially sanctioned policy in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).
“While the aggression and blatant violation of human rights in Kashmir to silence the voice for self-determination of Kashmiris continue unabated, the role of United Nations has been frustrating.”
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said any double standard at the UN forum would risk the future of international cooperation for peaceful resolution of conflicts and subsequently genuine human development.
He underlined the need for justice and equality at the UN, which, he said, must not be utilized by certain states to torment others.
Referring to the unending and vicious cycle of violence and instability in the Muslim world and the role of UN, the speaker said the failure of United Nations to prevent the invasions of Iraq and Libya under the false claims of `weapons of mass destruction’ and subsequent mass destruction in the region had discredited the world body.
People have expressed immense skepticism about the use of chemical weapons in Syria as well, he added.
The speaker underlined the need for a serious debate at the UN on international support to Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban and other such groups, who disrupted the global peace and security.
The UN was not just a debating club rather a world body committed and mandated to address pressing global challenges, he added.
While discussing the Sustainabale Development Goals (SDGs), the Sardar Ayaz underlined the need for a unified global action against malnutrition in all its forms and urged the United Nations Assistant Secretary General to expedite efforts for fast-tracking progress on achievement of the SDGs 2030 Agenda.
He said Pakistan’s parliament was the first in the world to establish a dedicated SDGs Secretariat. It was also the first `green parliament’ in the world that provided surplus energy to the National Grid under the `Net-Metering’ license, he added.
UN Assistant Secretary General Ms Gerda Verburg congratulated the speaker on enabling Pakistan’s parliament to switch over to solar power for meeting its energy needs. The Pakistani parliament, she said, offered lessons for all parliaments to promote sustainable energy.
She said the United Nations was committed to scale up efforts in combating malnutrition, food insecurity and poverty across the globe. Enhancing the capacity of the parliamentarians and parliamentary secretariat, she added, was highly imperative for accelerating progress on achievement of the SDGs. (APP)