The PM at the UN

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the 69^th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 26. He made a solid and plodding speech that held no surprises, and was in large part a restatement of what has been said before but with a nod to the future. He made reference to the Kashmir issue, and perhaps with the memory of the Scottish referendum in mind said that the Kashmir problem has to be resolved in line ‘with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.’ He lamented the cancellation of secretary-level talks with India, and rightly pointed out that South Asia in general had missed many opportunities to benefit from the latent prosperity of the region.

Looking wider he welcomed the change of regime in Kabul, as well he might as outgoing president Karzai had a famously-fractious relationship with Pakistan. It is to be hoped that the new incumbency in Afghanistan will start with a clean sheet, and a reboot of the relationship between our two countries.

Terrorism — domestic and foreign — was touched upon, with the elephant in the room of the crisis provoked by the rise of the Islamic State being recognised as a global threat (and uncomfortably close to our backdoor, but the prime minister dodged that particular bullet). The people of Gaza were in need of a lasting solution to their myriad miseries and the UN itself was in need of substantial reform.

It was not a speech to light up the General Assembly, and offered standard fare from a menu that most would be familiar with. Palatable but bland. The PM’s stay in New York has been characterised by missed opportunities to interact with his fellow leaders either formally or informally, and his meeting with “the Pakistan community” in New York was limited to fewer than 80 people photographed as he addressed them from a podium. Somewhat fewer than the Indian PM is to address later at Madison Square Garden, where an audience of thousands is expected.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2014.

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