UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17: Denouncing terrorism in all its forms and manifestation, including state terrorism, Pakistan on Tuesday warned of an “axis of oppression” to deny people the world over the right to self-determination.

“The states which are suppressing the right of peoples to self-determination in the Middle East and South Asia are now joining together in what is advertised as an alliance against terrorism but which is more likely to emerge as an axis of oppression”, Pakistan ambassador to the UN Munir Akram told the Security Council following the US veto of the Palestinian resolution.

Eleven Security Council members voted in favour of the Syrian draft criticizing Israel’s decision to expel Palestinian President Yasser Arafat while Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained after hours of consultations failed to lead to a compromise acceptable to both the US and Syria.

Declaring support for the Palestinian people, Mr Akram stressed “the issue of terrorism should not be used to “demonize political opponents” and “to de-legitimize legitimate political grievances.”

He pointed out that the UN secretary-general had aptly noted that “states fighting various forms of unrest or insurgency are finding it tempting to abandon the slow, difficult, but sometimes necessary processes of political negotiations for the deceptively easy option of military action.”

He said the secretary-general advised us all to ‘act with determination to address, indeed solve, the political disputes and long-standing conflicts which underlie, fuel, and generate support for terrorism.’

“Unfortunately, rather than heeding the secretary-general’s call, the states which are suppressing the right of peoples to self-determination in the Middle East and South Asia are now joining together in what is advertised as an alliance against terrorism but which is more likely to emerge as an axis of oppression”, Akram said.

Mr Akram asked Israel that, rather than resort to extreme actions, like deportation or worse, against the President of Palestine, there was a need for concerted action to help the Palestinians realize their right of self-determination and to end their dispossession. The international community has a clear responsibility to ensure this as well.

The rejected draft resolution would have demanded “that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and to cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority.”

It would have condemned Israel’s targeted assassinations of militant leaders and Palestinian suicide bombings, “all of which caused enormous suffering and many innocent victims.” It would also have called for a cessation of “all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction.”