Amin Aslam, Zartaj Gul reject allegations of brawl at COP-26

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and State Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul denied on Saturday the allegations levelled by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Riaz Fatyana about a brawl at the recently-concluded COP-26 moot in the UK.

In a joint statement, Aslam and Gul denied any brawl or misunderstanding at COP-26, saying that the allegations levelled by Fatyana during a PAC meeting on Friday were totally baseless. They added that Fatyana was not part of the official Pakistani delegation at the conference.

The international event in Glasgow, United Kingdom was the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from October 31, to November 13. The president of the conference was British cabinet minister Alok Sharma.

The joint statement said that during the conference, Aslam and Gul held very useful meetings with various heads of delegations, international organizations and UN bodies. In these meetings, the vision and leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was highly appreciated.

Besides, the statement added, Pakistan’s pavilion at COP-26 was one of the busiest pavilions and lauded by several heads of delegations and international organisations.

While representing Pakistan, both the special assistant to the prime minister and the minister of state individually and jointly attended various events and highlighted the prominent initiatives of the government and highlighted Pakistan as one of the top climate action champion countries in the world.

The statement further said that Riaz Fityana was not part of Pakistan’s official delegation but was representing a non-governmental organization without any invitation of the Ministry of Climate Change.

“The success of Pakistan in COP-26 can be gauged from the facts that Govt of UK has regarded Pakistan as one of the four countries ranked as Nature Champions out of 196 countries in the world.

Also the UN system has declared Pakistan as one of the top three countries ranked as Forestry Leaders, among 196 countries across the globe,” the statement added.

Lord Aamer Sarfraz, a Conservative member of the House of Lords, said that Pakistan was a star performer at COP-26, adding that Malik Amin Aslam worked tremendously hard during the event. “I visited the Pakistan pavilion myself, which was by far one of the most active and effective pavilions at the summit,” he added.