KUALA LUMPUR, May 6: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said here on Friday that Pakistan would continue to play a key role in promoting peace and security in the region and at the global level. Delivering his keynote address at a function organized by the Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute (ASLI), he said Pakistan, a nuclear state of 150 million people, located at the strategic crossroads of south, central and west Asia, will continue to play a pivotal role in the future to ensure peace and security at the regional and global levels.

In this context, he referred to Pakistan’s key role in stabilization of Afghanistan, fight against terrorism, commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, peace process with India and Islamabad’s position on the expansion of the UN Security Council.

Speaking on the subject of ‘Peace, conflict resolution and regional security: learning from Pakistan’, the prime minister gave an overview of Islamabad’s experience in the context of current global realities. He spoke about the marked improvement in relations with neighbouring countries and highlighted strong partnerships Pakistan had developed with major world powers, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and Japan.

Noting that peace, conflict-resolution and security were interlinked, the prime minister asserted that the world remained insecure. To explain his point, he mentioned the new threat of terrorism, concerns over nuclear proliferation and WMDs, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the unresolved issues of Palestine and Kashmir.

Mr Aziz saw the widening economic disparities in the world as a recipe for instability and chaos. He called upon the international community to support efforts aimed at poverty alleviation and socio-economic development. The prime minister also stressed the need to counter warped perceptions about Islam and the false notion of clash of civilizations peddled by vested interests.

Politically Pakistan’s security environment and challenges had been shaped by over two decades of conflict in Afghanistan and over five decades of tension with India over Kashmir, he said. The prime minister said after India conducted nuclear tests, Pakistan had no option but to respond and establish nuclear deterrence.

He said Pakistan and India were now seriously engaged in dialogue to improve relations and address all issues. However, for durable peace and security we must find a final settlement of Kashmir based on the wishes of the Kashmiri people, he emphasized.

A solution to this longstanding problem that was acceptable to India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people was not beyond human ingenuity, the prime minister said. It was now time that both countries should move on from dispute management to dispute resolution, he stated.

Referring to the assertion of unilateralism that undermines the UN system, the prime minister stated that the Iraq experience had demonstrated the importance of strengthening the multilateral approach and respecting the political primacy of the United Nations.

His word of caution on the new push for UN reforms was: Unless we work together for a consensus, there is a risk of division among the UN membership especially on the critical issue of the expansion of the UN Security Council.

On a more optimistic note, the prime minister said the immense transformation of the Asia-Pacific region as a result a spectacular development of the Southeast Asia, China and the emergence of powerful trading blocs had encouraged positive trends for socio-economic development across the globe.

Pakistan desired to emulate this model for Saarc and the ECO. We support the economic integration of various sub regions of Asia, he added.