Islamabad : In the Foreign Office weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan welcomes the United Nations Secretary General’s decision to invoke Article-99 of the UN Charter to bring attention of the UN Security Council towards the dire security situation and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Additional Foreign Secretary (Africa) Ambassador Shehryar Akbar represented Pakistan at the Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting held on 5-6 December 2023 in Ghana. He highlighted the challenges confronting UN peacekeeping and underscored the importance of ensuring safety of peacekeepers and the populations they serve. He called for a renewed commitment and robust partnership among Member States and the United Nations to address these issues. At the conference Pakistan has presented 19 concrete pledges demonstrating our commitment to UN peacekeeping. These pledges include the Strategic Communications Unit, infantry battalion, enhancing the percentage of women peacekeepers, helicopter units and renewable energy resources etc. These pledges show Pakistan’s dedication to global peace and security.
In Ghana Ambassador Shehryar Akbar called on the Vice President of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Foreign Minister of Ghana Shirley Ayorker Botchwey. The two sides agreed to advance durable and mutually beneficial engagement and dialogue. They agreed to enhance cooperation across multiple domains including science and technology and digitization and to facilitate joint ventures. Ambassador Shehryar Akbar also held bilateral meetings with the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix; the UK Minister of States for Armed Forces, James Heappey; and the UAE Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Security and Military Affairs, Dr. Rashed Alkaabi.
The 6th Round of Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) between Pakistan and Mexico was held in Islamabad on 05 December 2023. Ambassador Mariam Aftab, Additional Foreign Secretary (Americas), led the Pakistan delegation while the Mexican delegation was headed by Ambassador Jose Tripp Villanueva, Director General for Africa, Central Asia and Middle East at the Mexican Foreign Ministry. The talks covered all aspects of bilateral relations, emphasizing mutual commitment to strengthen ties in trade, agriculture, investment, science & technology, and people-to-people contacts.
A series of visits by senior US officials is taking place this week. These include Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, Julieta Valls Noyes; Special Representative on Afghanistan, Tom West; and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Elizabeth Horst. These visits are part of ongoing dialogue with the US on a range of issues including, but not limited to, the situation in Afghanistan. Pakistan remains committed to sustained engagement and dialogue with the United States.
Pakistan welcomes the UN Secretary-General’s decision to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter, to bring to the attention of the UN Security Council the dire security situation and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. This decision of the Secretary General demonstrates his conscionable assessment of the catastrophic situation in Gaza.
Pakistan strongly and unequivocally condemns the continued use of force by Israel and its indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian facilities and infrastructure in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. The suffering and collective punishment endured by the besieged people of Gaza is unprecedented and unacceptable.
As the Secretary-General has underscored in his letter to the President of the UN Security Council, “civilians throughout Gaza face grave danger” and “nowhere is safe in Gaza.” There is a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian lifeline essential for survival. The situation is fast deteriorating with potentially irreversible implications for Palestine and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs.
We join the Secretary General in his call to the international community to end the ongoing situation and avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
The UN Security Council must perform its primary responsibility under the Charter, impose an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and protect the people of Gaza from an impending genocide. We call on Israel’s backers to urge Israel to end its barbaric attacks and inhumane siege against Gaza.
We also call for an international conference for long-term peace on the Palestinian question. Durable peace in the region will emerge from the internationally agreed two-State solution and from the creation of a secure, viable, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The bills passed by the lower house of the Indian Parliament, yesterday , pertaining to the IIOJK, are yet another farce to perpetuate India’s occupation and to deny the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination.
Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized disputed territory, whose final disposition is to be made in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and as per the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Any other process cannot serve as a substitute to the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
Pakistan has never recognized India’s occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. It has reportedly rejected the relevance of the Indian Constitution to this disputed territory. We therefore, categorically reject any measures that perpetuate India’s occupation.
India’s unilateral and illegal measures of 05 August 2019, and a number of subsequent steps, are aimed at changing the demographic structure and political landscape of the Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Pakistan strongly condemns and rejects these measures as these would convert Kashmiris into a disempowered minority in their own land. These measures are also a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. India must rescind these illegal and unilateral measures, provide relief to the people of IIOJK and create a positive environment for peace and dialogue.
Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions.