TEHRAN, Aug 31: President Asif Ali Zardari has called for a new role for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to address the challenges of the 21st century. Addressing the 120-member NAM summit on its concluding day, the president said Pakistan would be pleased to actively contribute to the strengthening of the movement, whose member states represented nearly two-thirds of the UN members and comprise 55 per cent of the world population.
He said NAM’s strength had been its unity because it defeated imperialism and apartheid in the 20th century and stressed that it should demonstrate the same solidarity, conviction and unity to face new challenges.
President Zardari, who met leaders of Iran, India, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan during his two-day stay here, said Pakistan desired good relations and enhanced economic cooperation with all countries. Pakistan is engaged in a comprehensive dialogue withIndia and wants a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir dispute.
He said destinies of Pakistan and Afghanistan were connected because both had been suffering conflicts for three decades. He said Pakistan was committed to promoting durable peace in Afghanistan.
Pakistan will stand by its Afghan brethren through various phases of transition and continue to support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process.
President Zardari said he hoped the ‘unfinished’ issue of repatriation of the Afghan refugees would be taken up by the international community to ensure their respectful return to their homeland.
He expressed concern over continuing bloodshed in Syria and demanded its immediate end. He said democratic aspirations of the Syrian people must be respected.
Mr Zardari said Pakistan respected the right of the people of Palestine for self-determination and creation of an independent state of Palestine was critical to peace.
Referring to the global issue of terrorism, he said Pakistan had lost over 40,000 innocent lives and suffered over $80 billion in economic losses.
He raised the issue of narcotics and said heroin had been developed as a war weapon. The trade in heroin is fuelling financial backbones of terrorism.
Last time the international community while withdrawing from Afghanistan took away their weapons, but left behind heroin which as a ‘war-weapon’ was causing havoc in the region.
Pakistan has convened a regional ministerial conference in November in Islamabad to discuss ways of ending the use of heroin as a war weapon.
“You must give a message of hope to the youth, and need to engage in an intellectual debate with them to counter extremism,” he said.
He said that Pakistan had tried the principles of harmony, tolerance and respect for diversity and the same could be applied for the NAM member states. “We believe it also holds great promise for inter-state relations.”
He said global peace and security rested in disarmament and non-proliferation and their rules must be based on non-discrimination.
He said NAM must not legitimise the double standards in the disarmament regimes.
Meeting with Khamenei
President Zardari called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and discussed with him a range of issues, from bilateral relations to the prevailing regional situation and current challenges faced by the Ummah.
The president was accompanied by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
While discussing bilateral relations, the two leaders noted that the fraternal ties were deeply rooted in their common heritage.
President Zardari said Pakistan was determined to build an enduring partnership with Iran and to further strengthen relations to promote mutual cooperation.
He said that being important regional players, Pakistan and Iran were poised to play an important role for peace, stability and socio-economic development of the region.
The two leaders also took stock of the regional situation, with particular focus on Afghanistan and Syria.
President Zardari said being the immediate neighbours, peace and stability in Afghanistan was important for both Pakistan and Iran.—APP