In solidarity: PTI chief urges UN chief to halt Gaza massacre

Says UN faces the challenge of sustaining its credibility.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has written a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanding an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

“We have been watching in shock and horror as the state of Israel has unleashed the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan and the UN has stood by as a silent spectator,” the PTI chief said in his letter.



Imran said that even as the death toll in Gaza has spiralled above 800, Israeli aggression continues. “I write to you as the chairman of the second largest political party in Pakistan and on behalf of the Pakistani nation, which has always been the leading nation in UN peacekeeping across the globe,” he said.

“The Egyptian authorities have sealed their border and are also preventing medical supplies from going into Gaza and the UN has issued not a word of protest,” Imran said.

He said that Chapter XV Article 99 of the UN’s Charter defines the special responsibility of the secretary general, while Article 100.1 calls on the secretary general not to be influenced by any state in carrying out of his functions.

Imran said the UN is undergoing a major challenge in terms of sustaining its institutional credibility. “The massacre of innocent women, children, and elderly by the state of Israel cannot simply be ignored by the UN… nor can the Israeli aggression under false claims of ‘self defence’ be ignored,” he added.

“As the world watches Israel losing all sense of humanity and breaking all international norms of behaviour, it is the UN to which it looks for intervention,” he noted. “I call on you to immediately exercise this responsibility to prevent the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza,” Imran said. Imran urged for the opening of Egypt’s border with Gaza and for medical assistance to those in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2014.