Pakistan has told the United Nations that
resolution of the Palestinian issue was a fundamental pre-condition for
regional as well as global peace and security.
Speaking in the Security Council debate on
the Middle East, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi said that lack
of progress on the Palestinian issue has not only betrayed the hopes and
aspirations of generations of Palestinians but has also sowed the seeds of
endless hostility and discord in the region, says a press release received here
today from New York.
“A viable, independent and contiguous State
of Palestine on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967
borders and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, is the only sustainable
guarantee for enduring peace in the Middle East”, she stressed.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the illegal
occupation of their homeland, Ambassador Lodhi said, the aspirations of the
Palestinian people to live a life of freedom and dignity still remains a
distant and elusive ideal.
She pointed out to the 15 member Council
that discussions on the situation in the Middle East invariably become a somber
reminder of the specter of violence and conflict that has afflicted millions
across the region. “And nothing epitomizes this more than the plight of the
Palestinian people”, she added.
Pakistan she said welcomed the political
reconciliation forged between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo last week as a ‘landmark
achievement’ and called upon the international community to renew its resolve
to sustain this positive momentum.
While congratulating the Palestinians on
this singular achievement she said that this development by itself was not
enough to tip the scales of justice in favor of the long-suffering
Palestinians.
“As a first step, the illegal and
oppressive siege of Gaza by Israel must be lifted”, she insisted.
The Pakistani envoy lashed out at Israel's
illegal policy constructing settlements in occupied territories and the
systematic practice of dispossessing Palestinians of their homes and displacing
them from their lands and livelihoods, in the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem.
Ambassador Lodhi warned the Council that
any unilateral attempts by Israel to alter or re-engineer the existing status
quo in the old city of Jerusalem, was an unacceptable provocation for billions
of Muslims around the world, and must cease.
“ Creating alternate ‘facts on the
ground’ cannot change historic realities or nuetralise the legal rights of
people living under foreign occupation, in Palestine, and elsewhere”, she
said.
Noting that challenges confronting the
Middle East were myriad and complex and were also often mutually reinforcing
and interlinked, Ambassador Lodhi called for greater cooperation and
coordination between the regional states.
Pakistan reaffirmed its unequivocal support
to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the brotherly people of Iraq.
“We are convinced that a solution to Iraq’s problems must be found within a
united and inclusive Iraqi state, recognizing and reconciling the interests of
all Iraqi people”, she said.
On the situation in Syria, Pakistan
proposed a Syrian-led and Syrian-driven process of political reconciliation as
the only pathway to lasting peace in that country. “The intra-Syrian talks are
pivotal towards this end. We hope that the parties will show the necessary
flexibility and compromise to bridge their differences” Dr. Lodhi added.
On the situation in Yemen, she called
for a surge in diplomacy as well as humanitarian support to the millions of
people in need across that country.
She concluded by saying that the
international community's shared ideal of world peace should begin from the
Middle East, quoting the UN Secretary General, who in his address to the
General Assembly this year said: ‘We are a world in pieces. We need to be a
world at peace.’
