Lasting international peace and stability will remain elusive until the people under foreign occupation, like those in Kashmir and Palestine, are allowed to exercise their right to self-determination, acting Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Usman Jadoon, told a visiting 23-member delegation from the US War College. Ambassador Jadoon at his meeting with the delegation at the Pakistan Mission in New York said, “The right to self-determination is one of the fundamental pillars of the UN Charter”. In the course of briefing the delegation members about Pakistan’s role and work at the UN, he apprised them of its stance on the various regional and international issues, highlighting the decades-old Kashmir dispute and efforts to seek its resolution peacefully. The UN Security Council resolutions, which calls for a UN-supervised plebiscite to decide the wishes of the Kashmiri people, provide the framework for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

On combating terrorism, the Pakistani envoy referred to the enormous sacrifice made by Pakistan, saying, “Afghanistan has become a hub where the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was using the Afghan soil to consistently target Pakistan.” There were valid concerns about the TTP forming an alliance with other terrorist outfits, principally Al-Qaeda, with its implications for regional peace and security. Pakistan, he said, shared the expectations of the international community about political inclusivity, and provision of educational and employment opportunities to women in Afghanistan, while underscoring that equal attention needed to be paid to the counter-terrorism aspect as well. Ambassador Jadoon said that developing countries were making efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals, and fight the adverse aspects of climate change if given access global concessional finance.

He said that mounting debt liabilities, and increase in fuel and commodity prices had created formidable challenges for the economies of developing countries. “Pakistan has been advocating the reform of international financial architecture in a manner that it is equitable and fair and helps the Global South overcome development deficits,” he said. On UNSC reform, Ambassador Jadoon said that Pakistan, as part of Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group, opposed any additional permanent in the Security Council, arguing it would only increase its paralysis. Pakistan, he said, advocated increase in the non-permanent members to make the 15-member body more effective, representative and accountable. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session during which the visitors asked about the Jammu and Kashmir dispute; India-Pakistan bilateral relations; Ukraine and Gaza wars; climate threat; counter-terrorism, and Pakistan’s priorities as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan