UN credibility at stake on Palestine, Kashmir: Pakistan
Pakistan said at the United Nations that if the Security Council did not implement its own resolutions on Palestine and Kashmir, people across the world can lose faith in the international body, says a press release received here from New York. Speaking in the debate on the Middle East, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi called on the Security Council to live up to its responsibilities on resolutions it has adopted.
Ambassador Lodhi reaffirmed Pakistan's continued support to the legitimate aspirations of people living under foreign occupation in Palestine, Kashmir and elsewhere. Describing the global peace and security landscape to be plagued by mounting and complex challenges, Ambassador Lodhi said that "Conflicts have intensified and new dangers have emerged while in fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse".
Commenting on the volatile situation in the Middle East, Ambassador Lodhi said that the two-state solution was in peril. "The plight of the Palestinian people is being betrayed at the altar of narrow and myopic political interests and the quest for peace and stability in the region is becoming more elusive than ever", she asserted.
Arguing that occupiers have no case to make other than to create alternate facts, Ambassador Lodhi criticized those speakers in the Security Council who tried to deflect attention away from the tragedy of the Palestinian people during the debate. She voiced Pakistan's deep concern over the financial constraints faced by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose activities are a lifeline for Palestinian refugees.
"The unfortunate situation has been aggravated by the unilateral decision of a major UNRWA donor to withhold more than half it's funding to the organization", Ambassador Lodhi said and urged the international community to ensure sufficient and sustainable financing for UNRWA.
"The international community must not fail the Palestinian refugees", she remarked. Criticizing the recent decision by certain countries to relocate their
Embassies to Jerusalem, the Pakistani envoy said that this has further inflamed the security situation in the Middle East. The legal status of Jerusalem is unambiguous, Ambassador Lodhi said, pointing to several Security Council and General Assembly resolutions which affirm that all legislative and administrative measures taken by the occupying power to alter the character and status of
Jerusalem are 'null and void'.
"Security Council Resolution 478 in fact calls on states that have established their diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to withdraw them from the Holy City", she added. She asserted that any contrary action was therefore, not only a manifest violation of the Resolution but also a blatant attempt to legitimize Israel's illegal occupation of East Jerusalem.