UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19: Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations, Shamshad Ahmad has called on the UN Security Council to rise above power politics and respond to international crises and conflicts in an objective manner.

He was speaking at Security Council’s public meeting on the Counter- Terrorism Committee.

“Our universal obligation to fight terrorism must not deflect us from the need for a just, lasting and honourable settlement of the Kashmir issue which will restore peace and stability not only to our region, but also

to the world at large. It is time for the Security Council to restore its credibility and legitimacy and work as a true instrument of peace and security as mandated by the UN Charter,” he argued.

Mr Shamshad said:”Indeed, terrorism has many forms and manifestations, which should also be included within the ambit of the Security Council resolutions and within the purview of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.”

Those who employed state apparatus to trample upon the fundamental and inalienable rights of people are also perpetrators of terrorism.

He said: “Thirteen million people in the held Kashmir are struggling for their freedom against foreign occupation and alien domination. The Kashmiris continue to be deprived of their inalienable right to self-determination which is enshrined in the resolutions of this very Security Council, and which have remained unimplemented for over half a century. They have been victims of state terrorism and repression of the most brutal sort. While a just cause can not be ennobled by the killing of innocent civilians, neither can the civilized community of nations condone the use of force for the repression of the legitimate cause of a people.”

He said Pakistan was ready to resolve the Kashmir dispute through peaceful means in accordance with the principles laid down in the UN Charter.—APP