UNITED NATIONS: Saying that the Arab spring had turned into a “cold and forbidding winter”, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi made an impassioned plea to the world community to address the region’s several conflicts, especially Palestine.

During a debate on Middle East in the UN Security Council Ms Lodhi lamented “Once a cradle of civilisation, the Middle East today has become a cradle of chaos”.

She added: “Conflicts and regional rivalries raged in the Middle East, which was also afflicted by terrorism and extremism and massive as well as enduring human suffering”.

Pakistan urged the Security Council to adopt a resolution establishing the parameters of a Palestinian State, set a timeline for ending occupation and launch a new peace process to take negotiations forward.

Ms Lodhi warned the Security Council that unless this chaos was contained and controlled it would endanger global peace, security and prosperity.

“This situation needed to be addressed with long-term vision rather than short term or partisan perspectives”.

Muslim unity, she stressed, was essential in the face of these challenges. The Islamic world must not allow the internal fissures to tear apart the divinely prescribed unity of the Ummah — the community of all Muslims.

Describing Palestine and the plight of its people as the root cause of many of the conflicts and chaos that now raged across the Middle East, she said the prospect of a just solution appeared further away than at any time. This was unacceptable. As was the situation in the Palestinian camp in Yarmouk which defied description.

She reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine and urged the council to act and take the lead on this issue. Ambassador Lodhi said that the resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict would also help resolve the new conflicts engulfed the Middle East. “Urgency is essential”, she emphasised and added that unfortunately the prospect of a just solution to this perennial problem was further away than at any time.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2015

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