Global Counter-Terrorism Forum: Pakistan vows to deal with terrorism

Country ‘extremely vulnerable’ to climate change

UNITED NATIONS:

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Wednesday projected Pakistan’s perspective on issues pertaining to counter-terrorism while addressing the fifth ministerial meeting of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF) here. “Pakistan stands with the international community in dealing with issues of kidnapping for ransom and the threat posed by foreign terrorists,” Chaudhry said. 

He emphasised the need to develop ‘persuasive logic’ in response to radical narratives, creation of economic opportunities for young people and the resolution of political grievances and longstanding disputes in order to deal with terrorism. The meeting was co-chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Turkish foreign minister and attended by several ministers and high-level officials of the GCTF member states.



The GCTF was established in 2011 as a platform to identify civilian counter-terrorism needs, mobilise necessary expertise and resources to build state capacities, identify and share best practices in the realm of countering terrorism; and generate political will and understanding on counter-terrorism issues. Pakistan is one of the 30 founding members of the forum.

Summit on climate change

Separately, Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz spoke at the UN Climate Summit on Tuesday and described the issue of climate change as “the defining unresolved issue”. He called for an international agreement to cap greenhouse gas emissions and promised Pakistan’s assistance in reaching the agreement on climate change by 2015. The summit was attended by 120 world leaders as well as UN Ambassador of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio and was the first such meeting on the issue in five years.

“We need to generate political will and pool our strength and resources to combat this menace through practical measures,” Aziz said. “We should negotiate a win-win outcome. This would be possible only if we develop an undivided focus on evolving a substantive Climate Change Convention.”

He said Pakistan was evolving a comprehensive climate change policy, focused on mitigation and adaptation measures. Pakistan, he pointed out, had one of the lowest per capita emissions of greenhouse gases in the world, but had been placed in the extremely vulnerable category by many climate change indices.

“We are threatened by multiple disasters: drought, desertification, glacial melt, sea-level rise and recurrent floods,” Aziz said. “In the past 40 years, nine out of the 10 top natural disasters in Pakistan have been triggered largely by climate change,” the advisor told the gathering. Pakistan, he said, requires an additional $5 billion annually to adapt to climate change impacts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.