Pakistan won’t be scapegoat in Afghan war, Abbasi tells UN
new york — Pakistan refuses to be a “scapegoat” for Afghanistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the United Nations on Thursday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abbasi did not explicitly criticise US President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan but made clear his displeasure with the renewed onus on Pakistan.
“Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counter terrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan,” Abbasi said.
“We are not prepared to be anyone’s scapegoat,” he said.
“What Pakistan is not prepared to do is to fight the Afghan war on Pakistan’s soil. Nor can we endorse any failed strategy that will prolong and intensify the suffering of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan and other regional countries,” he said.
Abbasi said that thousands of Pakistanis have been killed by extremists since the launch of the US war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Abbasi called for a priority on eliminating extremists, including from the Daesh group and Al Qaeda, in Afghanistan but ultimately a political solution with the Taleban.
Prime Minister Abbasi urged the United Nations to appoint a special envoy to Kashmir, saying that the struggle of the people in the region is being brutally suppressed by India.
He accused India of indulging in terror activities against Pakistan and warned of a “matching response” if it “ventures across the LoC (Line of Control)” or acts upon its doctrine of limited war against Pakistan.
“The Kashmir dispute should be resolved justly, peacefully and expeditiously. As India is unwilling to resume the peace process with Pakistan, we call on the Security Council to fulfil its obligation to secure the implementation of its own resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
“To this end, the UN secretary general should appoint a special envoy on Kashmir. His mandate should flow from the longstanding but unimplemented resolutions of the Security Council,” Abbasi said.
He said despite over 600 ceasefire violations on the India-Pakistan border since January this year, Pakistan has acted with restraint.
He also said that from day one of its creation, Pakistan has faced unremitting hostility from its eastern neighbour (India). “India refuses to implement the unanimous resolutions of the UN Security Council, which mandate a UN supervised plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to freely decide their destiny,” he said.
“Instead, India has deployed nearly 700,000 troops in occupied Kashmir to suppress the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination. This is the most intense foreign military occupation in recent history,” Abbasi said.
“Shotgun pellets have blinded and maimed thousands of Kashmiris including children. These and other brutalities clearly constitute war crimes and violate the Geneva Conventions,” he charged. Abbasi demanded an international investigation into the alleged atrocities in Kashmir and sending of an inquiry commission to Jammu and Kashmir in order to secure the punishment of those “responsible of human rights violation” and provide justice and relief to victims. — AFP, PTI