UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has told the Security Council that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in cooperation with the UN was capable of dealing with the longstanding dispute of Kashmir and addressing the Middle East’s current security challenges.

In her address during the Security Council debate on “Regional organisations and contemporary challenges of global security”, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi observed that the OIC was also capable of promoting global peace and security. Underlining its unique character, she said, the organisation includes 57 UN member states and spans four continents that today confronted imposing security challenges.

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She also told council that while some regional organisations had proved their worth while others, like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), had much potential but were yet to fulfil that promise. Saarc, she pointed, had been “constrained because of the deep differences among its members and attempts to utilise it for regional domination”.

Focusing on the need to address the root causes of conflict around the world, Ambassador Lodhi called upon the UN to actively promote cooperation with the OIC in areas such as mediation and conciliation of disputes; peace-keeping and peace-building; humanitarian assistance, especially to refugees and displaced people.

She also said that confrontation between the major powers had returned to Europe and threatened to encompass Asia. “Poverty stalks Africa and persists in South Asia”, she added.

She warned the Security Council that the global threats to peace and world order were multiplying from diverse sources, including climate change, poverty, unemployment, water scarcity, record number of refugees and forced migrants, and the gross violations of human rights.

But, Ms Lodhi added: “This is also a time of opportunity”. An inter-connected and interdependent world possesses the financial, scientific and organisational capabilities to address these imposing and myriad challenges. “What is needed is political will, especially among key global and regional powers, to utilise these capabilities effectively and cooperatively.”

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

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