October 13, 2006	Friday	Ramazan 19, 1427

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12: Pakistan on Wednesday underscored the need to resolve long-standing conflicts and disputes, noting that foreign occupations and denial of the right to self-determination were often the cause for the resort to terrorism.

Recalling a UN resolution which reaffirmed ‘the inalienable right of self-determination, the independence of all peoples under colonial and racial regimes and the legitimacy of their struggle’, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said that the 2005 world summit declaration had upheld the right to self-determination of peoples who remained under colonial domination and foreign occupation.

He was speaking on the question of ‘Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism’.

The strategy, he said, affirmed the member states’ determination “to do all they could to end foreign occupation”.

He said that “socio-economic marginalisation is among one of the conditions conducive to spread of terrorism. Mr Akram noted that “a new international community’s strategy also addresses the need to promote economic and social development as the means to arrest and eliminate extremism and terrorism “

“While there may not be a direct co-relationship between poverty and terrorism, it is obvious that those who live in hunger and hopelessness are more prone to become the foot soldiers of terrorist organisations. The promotion of balanced socio-economic development in the regions, where extremism exists should be a high priority for the international community”, he added.

ISLAM AND THE WEST: Stressing the need to bridge differences between Islam and the West, Pakistan’s chief delegate also called for an honest dialogue and said that it had become a political imperative. Mr Akram said that global anti-terrorism strategy should also address unjust defamation of certain religions and communities in the context of the fight against terrorism.

He suggested that the dialogue among civilisations could be pursued through the Panel on the ‘Alliance of Civilization’ and other such initiatives, including President Pervez Musharraf’s initiative on the ‘Enlightened Moderation ’.

Mr Akram highlighted Pakistan’s role in the global campaign against terrorism and said that it was a frontline state.

Mr Munir Akram also said that state terrorism was another cause of terrorism by individuals and groups, especially when state terrorism was utilised to suppress the right to self-determination or to perpetuate foreign occupation.