At UN, PM warns against ‘Hindutva fascism’

UNITED NATIONS:

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday urged the world leaders to adopt an indiscriminate approach towards countering all terrorists, including the rising threat posed by far-right extremist and fascist groups, such as Hindutva-inspired extremists.

In a wide-ranging address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Kakar highlighted a number of international, regional, and domestic issues, including cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistan; the Palestine tragedy; Islamophobia; global economic crises; climate change and others.

In his speech, Prime Minister Kakar stressed the need for addressing the root causes of terrorism, including the issues of poverty, injustice, and foreign occupation, besides distinguishing genuine freedom struggles from terrorism.

He called for countering all forms of terrorism, including “state terrorism” without any discrimination, such as the rising threat posed by “far-right extremist and fascist groups, such as Hindutva-inspired extremists, threatening genocide against India’s Muslims and Christians”.

He stressed the need for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to ensure the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir, which, he said, was the key to peace between Pakistan and India.
“Development depends on peace,” he said. “Pakistan desires peaceful relations with all our neighbours, including India.”

Since Aug 5, 2019, Kakar said, India, with 900,000 troops in occupied Kashmir, resorted to extended lockdowns; jailing genuine Kashmir leaders; extrajudicial killings in fake encounters and so-called cordon and search operations, and impose collective punishments of destroying entire villages.

He called for the reinforcement of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIO), stressing that global powers should convince New Delhi to accept Pakistan’s offer for mutual restraint on strategic and conventional weapons.

Islamophobia

While Islamophobia was an age-old phenomenon; he said, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it had assumed epidemic proportions, as manifested in the negative profiling of Muslims; and attacks on Islamic sites and symbols, such as the recent public burnings of the Holy Quran.

“Make no mistake,” Kakar warned. “It is a latent threat that undermines millennia of progress. We need to cherish and celebrate our diversity and different ways of life. Mutual respect, sanctity of religious symbols, scriptures and personages should be ensured.”

He said that Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would propose further steps to combat Islamophobia, including the appointment of a special envoy, creation of an Islamophobia data centre, legal assistance to victims and an accountability process to punish Islamophobic crimes.

Afghanistan

The prime minister termed peace in Afghanistan a strategic imperative for Pakistan. He shared the international community's concerns over the rights of Afghan women and girls.
He said that Pakistan's first priority was to prevent and counter all forms of terrorism from and within Afghanistan.

Kakar condemned the cross-border attacks against Pakistan by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the militant Islamic State group, aka Da’esh, and other groups operating from Afghanistan.
He added that Islamabad was taking necessary measures to end this externally encouraged terrorism.

“We advocate continued humanitarian assistance to a destitute Afghan population in which Afghan girls and women are the most vulnerable; as well as revival of the Afghan economy and implementation of the connectivity projects with Central Asia,” he said.

Economic recovery

The prime minister told the 78th session of the 193-member UNGA that the Pakistan government was committed to rapid economic recovery — stabilise its foreign exchange reserves and currency; expand domestic revenues; and mobilise significant domestic as well as external investment.

To that end, he continued, Pakistan had established a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to expedite investment decisions, while the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had been initiated, covering railway, infrastructure and manufacturing projects.

For sustainable development of poor states, however, he called for re-channelling unused Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for development; the expansion of concessional lending by the multilateral development banks; and the resolution of the debt problems of the 59 countries in debt distress.

Pakistan, he added, also looked forward to the fulfilment of the climate change commitments made at COP28 by the developed world: to provide over $100 billion in annual climate finance and allocate at least half of such finance for adaptation in developing countries.

He also called for operationalising the fund and funding arrangements for the ‘Loss and Damage’; and accelerating their carbon emission mitigation targets to “keep alive” the goal of restricting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade.

Pointing out that Pakistan was one of the worst-affected countries by climate change, he mentioned the epic floods last summer. He also referred to the commitments of over $10.5 billion for Pakistan at the Geneva Conference last January.

Continuing, the prime minister said that specific projects were being submitted to ensure their timely funding and execution.

“I hope our development partners will accord priority to release the funds for our ‘resilient’ recovery plan which cost $13 billion.”

Middle East

Kakar welcomed the normalisation of Saudi Arabia-Iranian ties, appreciating the progress made towards ending conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

However, he expressed dismay over the continuing tragedy of Palestine, with Israeli military raids, airstrikes, expansion of settlements and evictions of Palestinians.

On the UNSC reform, Kakar said that Pakistan did not believe in elitism within the comity of nations. Pakistan, he said, believed that adding additional permanent members — India is one of the aspirants — to the Security Council would further erode its credibility and legitimacy.

“The widest possible agreement can best be achieved on the basis of the Uniting for Consensus Group’s proposal for expansion of the council only in the non-permanent category with provision for a limited number of longer-term seats,” he said.

Stressing the need for reducing “great-power rivalry and tensions” he said: “The world cannot afford Cold War 2.0. There are far greater challenges confronting humankind which demand global cooperation and collective action.”

To build, preserve, and promote peace today, and in the future, he called for an strict adherence to the UN Charter; implementing UNSC resolutions; eliminating root causes of conflicts; non-use of force and non-interference in the internal affairs of states and peaceful co-existence.

Alluding to the complex global and regional challenges that the world faced today, Kakar said these could be best addressed through effective multilateralism within the framework of the UN.
“Pakistan will continue to work actively to strengthen multilateral institutions and enhance global cooperation.”

This will be updated...