UNITED NATIONS: Restoration of peace in the Middle East will not be easy unless there is genuine commitment by all powers and parties to negotiated solutions, Pakistan has told the United Nations Security Council.

During a debate on the Middle East and Palestine, Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi said a comprehensive and enlightened policy was also needed to overcome the underlying political, economic and social causes of conflicts raging in the region.

She said it would be difficult to resolve other crises which had proliferated in the region, or to curb the rise of terrorism and extremism, unless the world found a “just and durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict”.

She said the ‘Arab Spring’ had turned into “a winter of despair and suffering” and the scale of the suffering in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere was unprecedented in its scope and intensity.

“As we discuss solutions here today, people continue to endure unimaginable suffering and their exodus has created a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Ms Lodhi underlined an urgent need for statesmanship, diplomacy and dialogue.

“Political and ideological polarisation in the region has exacerbated the consequences of external intervention, intensified sectarian and ethnic divisions and rendered political solutions more difficult.”

Referring to the unity displayed by the international community in combating the militant Islamic State group, she said these efforts could be successful only when the world addressed the underlying reasons of the appeal of its toxic ideology to “so many young and impressionable people in so many countries”.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2016