NEW YORK – Pakistan has again called for a just and lasting resolution ofthe Kashmir dispute, which along with the Palestine issue needs the to beaddressed by the U.N. Security Council, to promote international peace andsecurity.
Speaking in the 15-member Council’s debate on the situation in the MiddleEast, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, pointed out thatthese disputes had remained on the agenda of the UN almost since itsinception but the people of occupied Kashmir and Palestine continue toendure prolonged repression and denial of their legitimate right toself-determination.
‘It is indeed regrettable that the international community and the UN havebeen unable to realize just and lasting solutions to these problems,” sheadded.
“Concern about the plight of Palestinians has resonated in this Chamber forover seven decades now”, the Pakistani envoy said, yet, “regrettably, thesuffering of the people of Palestine continues to this day, with no hope ofany abatement”.
Ambassador Lodhi said that the systematic erosion of established norms ofinternational law and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter hadseriously undermined the Council’s ability to resolve these disputes andhad worsened an already fragile environment in the Middle East.
“Lasting peace in the Middle East and elsewhere cannot be accomplishedwithout fully respecting the principles of international law and embracingthe fundamental tenets of the UN Charter, which remains our sole instrumentof hope against injustice and oppression”, she stressed.
Arguing that competing interests pursued by external powers were furtheraccentuating regional fault lines in the Middle East, Ambassador Lodhi saidthat abandoning inclusive political processes in favour of militarysolutions would plunge the region into deeper instability and chaos.
Citing unilateral decisions aimed at eroding the longstanding internationalconsensus on the status of Jerusalem and recognition of Israel’ssovereignty over the Syrian Golan as a grim manifestation of this troublingtrend, Ambassador Lodhi warned the Security Council that such measures deala blow to the rule of international law and frustrate the internationalcommunity’ efforts to find long-term and peaceful solutions.
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“These infringements of the collective will of the internationalcommunity”, she added, “are taking us further from a goal of two-statesolution, which underpins the vision of a peaceful Middle East”.
Lamenting the lack of progress on the Palestinian issue, the Pakistanienvoy emphasized that this had not only frustrated the hopes andaspirations of generations of Palestinians, but also resulted in endlesshostility and turmoil in the region.
“Demolition of Palestinian homes”, she said, “continues across the occupiedWest Bank, including East Jerusalem, while Israel’s illegal settlements areexpanding in blatant disregard of international law and numerous SecurityCouncil resolutions”.
“Israeli control of and restrictions on access to Muslim and Christian holysites has further inflamed tensions. In the midst of these disturbingdevelopments, the threat of the annexation of the West Bank now loomslarge”, she added.
In her comprehensive statement, Ambassador Lodhi also referred to otherregional flashpoints including Libya, Syria and Yemen and said thatescalating violence, worsening humanitarian crisis and untold humansuffering have seriously undermined the long-cherished vision of a peacefulMiddle East.
Regional rivalries and external interference in Libya, Ambassador Lodhistressed, had imperiled a UN sponsored peace process; Syria had yet to seeany easing of the humanitarian situation and the political crisis in Yemenhad produced an unprecedented humanitarian challenge pushing millions tothe brink of famine.
