June 1, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1423

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UNITED NATIONS, May 31: Underscoring that “war stares us in the face” Pakistan on Friday asked the U.N. Security Council to live up to its Charter obligations to prevent a threat to international peace and security posed by India’s threat to attack Pakistan.

In a rare address to the wrap up session of the 15 member Security Council, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, said Council’s intervention in averting a war in South Asia “will brighten the prospects of peace for the present and future generations; its failure will blight the hopes for universal peace and prosperity aroused by the march of civilization at the dawn of the 21st Century.”

Reaffirming President Musharraf’s pledge that Pakistan would not initiate a war, Akram said that “we are eager to take the alternative path to peace. We hope that India will choose it too.” This is a “decisive hour” for the Council, he added.

Akram lamented that so far the Security Council has been unable to address the most serious current threat by India to attack Pakistan. India has mobilized most of its massive ground, air and naval forces in battle-ready formations against Pakistan.

“The Security Council and the UN Secretary-General, and, indeed, all UN member states, have an obligation flowing from Article 25 of the UN Charter, to secure the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions relating to Kashmir, adopted from 1949 to 1998. All the modalities outlined in Article 33 of the Charter can be mobilized for this purpose,” he stressed.

Saying that India has stoked the war hysteria, Akram said: “We have been obliged to respond to India’s threat. India’s prime minister has threatened a decisive battle against Pakistan. Other Indian leaders civilian and military have repeatedly threatened punitive strikes, hot pursuit and other use of force. News reports, yesterday, indicated that India is mounting warheads on its short and medium range missiles.”

Expressing hope that India will chose the path to peace, Akram suggested that the United Nations Observer group be strengthened to monitor the LoC or if India wants “alternatively some other impartial mechanism” for instance, an adequately manned and equipped helicopter-borne force “can be accepted by India and Pakistan to monitor the Loc.”

He reiterated Pakistan’s assurance that it would not start a war with India in face of India’s provocation “should be accompanied by the immediate de-escalation and progressive withdrawal of forces by India which would be matched by Pakistan back to their normal peacetime locations. Only once such de- escalation and withdrawals are completed will the threat to peace subside in the subcontinent.”

He proposed that “thereafter, further mutual steps could be taken. On the one hand, to end the repression by Indian forces in occupied Jammu & Kashmir. On the other, for de-escalation of the Kashmir freedom struggle and its transit to a purely political process for the realization of the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”