Global order ‘under assault’

The edifice of global order is “under assault,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the United Nations General Assembly, pointing to rising inequality within and among countries.

“Forces of protectionism, populism and isolationism are gaining currency,” he argued on Saturday, saying “intolerance is ascendant over acceptance; rhetoric over reason, and power over principle.”

Multilateralism “is on a path of retreat,” and “unilateralist tendencies are growing [and] long-standing legal norms are being eroded for strategic and commercial considerations,” he declared.

“Post-World War idealism is giving way, slowly but surely, to a hardened, militaristic approach,” the foreign minister said, which was “not only regressive, [but] downright dangerous.”

He reminded the Assembly that Pakistan remained one of the oldest, largest and most active UN peacekeeping contributors, adding his country also hosts one of the oldest missions, namely the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. Commending that operation’s contribution in monitoring the Line of Control in Kashmir, he noted Pakistan’s desire for a relationship with India “based on sovereign equality and mutual respect.”

Underscoring the relevance of the UN, the Foreign Minister detailed an eight-point list to keep the Organisation as the world’s “central platform for dialogue and diplomacy,” which ran from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to maintaining the “sanctity and integrity of international agreements” and developing universally-agreed legal frameworks on technology and innovation.