UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1: Pakistan on Tuesday expressed concern over the intensification of the repression of Kashmiri people by India, saying: “There has been no forward movement in resolving outstanding differences between Pakistan and India, especially over the (Indian-occupied) Jammu and Kashmir.”
Speaking at the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference’s annual coordination meeting, Pakistan ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, called for “a positive response from India on President Musharraf’s action plan for peace between Pakistan and India.”
Mr Akram maintained that “the just settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people is central to the promotion of normal ... relations between Pakistan and India.”
“In South Asia, the security situation between India and Pakistan remains fragile. While some small steps have been taken, bilateral relations have not even reached the status prior to India’s military mobilization in December, 2001 in the exercise of its foiled experiment of “coercive diplomacy,” he added.
Noting that efforts were being made to equate legitimate struggles of Palestinian and Kashmiri people with “terrorism,” Mr Akram said “there should be no compromise on our solidarity and support for the right to self-determination of the people of Palestine and Kashmir. We should forcefully resist efforts to de-legitimize the struggle for self-determination by depicting it as terrorism.”
Mr Akram observed that “the gulf between Islam and the West is widening,” adding: “Some states have exploited the orchestrated campaign against Islam to justify the suppression of their Muslim minorities. Legitimate struggles for the right to self-determination — as in Palestine and Kashmir — are being projected as extremist or even terrorist movements.”
“President Gen Pervez Musharraf has proposed the strategy of ‘enlightened moderation’, involving socio-economic and human development in the Islamic world and simultaneous action by the international community, including the UN, to promote solutions to conflicts and disputes afflicting the Islamic world on the basis of justice and international legality, to prevent discrimination against Muslims and against their religion, Islam, and to support the development efforts of the Islamic countries. The forthcoming Islamic Summit in Malaysia affords us a unique opportunity to ... revitalize our collective efforts (in this regard).”
Expressing Pakistan’s readiness to assist the Iraqi people, Mr Akram said Pakistan supported a central role for the UN in Iraq and added the OIC should play a meaningful role in providing humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people and its rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Speaking about UN reforms underway, Akram said: “We must utilize the initiatives for UN reforms to ensure a strict interpretation of the UN Charter’s provisions relating to collective enforcement action, under Article 42, and to self- defence, in Article 51. We must also prevent misuse of the war against terrorism for denial of self-determination and the arbitrary use of force against foreign States.”
Emphasising that “Pakistan is ... committed to peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan,” he said “Pakistan supports ... the urgent reforms required in the Security sector in Afghanistan (as well as) implementation of the political process, agreed at Bonn ... We are actively promoting economic cooperation with Afghanistan...”