Akram slams India for blocking Pakistan from UNSC meeting

Ambassador says Islamabad has vital stake in peace of Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS:

A top Pakistani diplomat on Monday denounced India, which as president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), again blocked Pakistan from participating in the 15-member council's meeting on Afghanistan, saying Pakistan has a vital stake in peace and stability of the war-torn country where the Taliban have now taken control of the government.

"It is most regrettable that Pakistan's request to participate in the Security Council meeting was once again blocked by the Indian Presidency," Ambassador Munir Akram told reporters after the conclusion of the council meeting, while also questioning the move to give the floor to the representative of Afghanistan's defunct regime of Ashraf Ghani who has fled the country.

The Security Council, he said, has been denied an "important perspective and vital input that could be helpful in restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region”, he said, noting that Pakistan was also blocked from participating in the council meeting on Afghanistan on August 6, as well.

"India's partisan and obstructionist actions a manifestation of its hatred for Pakistan and its pique that its plan to continue the conflict in Afghanistan and thus continue to sponsor terrorism against Pakistan from Afghanistan's territory is likely to be neutralised once peace is restored throughout Afghanistan."

Pakistan, he said, was not surprised by India's anti-Pakistan partisanship, saying, "This confirms Pakistan's long-held contention that India does not deserve to be a member of the Security Council, much less to aspire for peaceful relationship of this body whose resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir it has defied and violated for decades and where its 900,000 occupation army is committing massacre and human rights violations with impunity."

While blocking Pakistan and other neighbours of Afghanistan from addressing the council, Ambassador Akram said there was "considerable pathos" in the move to invite the representative of a now ousted regime of Afghanistan to speak to the council.

"Ambassador (Ghulam) Isaczai is an esteemed colleague; but the person who appointed him here recently, has fled Afghanistan to the calls of betrayal by some of his ministers and army chief,” the Pakistani envoy said.

"It is unclear, therefore, on whose behalf Ambassador Isaczai was speaking today," he said. "The assertions he advanced reflected the talking points of the ancient regime or his own personal views. They are not representative of the evolved realities in Afghanistan."

If invited to speak, he said, Pakistan would have told the Security Council of continuing its efforts to ensure a peaceful settlement and formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
Pointing out that a delegation of several important Afghan leaders, led by the Speaker of the Loya Jirga, have met in Islamabad with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other Pakistani officials, Ambassador Akram said, "They have agreed to engage with the Taliban to evolve an inclusive Afghan government.

We will work with them and the Taliban representatives to advance this objective - which is an important question for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan."