ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is set to address the UN General Assembly session on Friday (today), lamented world’s indifference to civilian suffering in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), as he condemned India’s military clampdown in the disputed territory and said he would appeal to the United Nations for help.
“This is the UN’s job and they have to intervene, send observers there,” he said while meeting with editors of The New York Times. Khan warned it was too risky to allow tensions to escalate between India and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear weapons. “They do not understand that this can go horribly wrong,” he said.
“If the UN doesn’t speak about it, who is going to speak about it?” Khan said, adding India was behaving irrationally — and against its own longer-term interests. “Arrogance,” he said, “stops people from being rational.”
The Prime Minister said he feared that was exactly what would happen. “This is very dangerous,” he said, “because people don’t realise where it’s headed. It’s going to be a massacre, the moment they lift the curfew.”
Khan said he was not optimistic that he would accomplish anything in his speech to the United Nations, at least not in the near term. “But at least the world will be aware,” he said. “Because I fear an impending genocide.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday wherein both the sides expressed satisfaction on growing momentum in bilateral relations in multiple spheres.
During the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, they discussed the matters related to further strengthening bilateral cooperation, a PM Office press release said.
The Prime Minister stressed the importance attached in Pakistan’s foreign policy to a qualitatively new relationship with the Russian Federation. He expressed satisfaction at the steady growth of bilateral cooperation in diverse areas.
Reiterating his invitation for President Putin to visit Pakistan, the Prime Minister said Pakistan and Russia had maintained close contact following the unilateral and illegal Indian actions of August 5 in IOJ&K. Both the leaders also exchanged views on the Afghan peace process.
Separately, Prime Minister Khan met Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.forward to Indonesia’s support and understanding on the plight of Kashmiris and attendant risks to peace and security. He recalled Indonesian President Widodo’s visit to Pakistan last year and expressed satisfaction on the fraternal and historical relations between Pakistan and Indonesia, a PM Office press release said. Indonesia is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Khan said the West should do more to treat the plundered money from developing countries in the same way as it treats drug money or terror financing, the Radio Pakistan reported.
Addressing High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said illicit financial flows devastate the economies of developing counties.
He said people in rich world did not realise the impact it was having on causing poverty, destruction and lack of human development in the developing world.Khan said: “We have been trying our best to retrieve the looted money but our efforts are hampered by legal lacunas and other issues in this process.”
The Prime Minister regretted there was a lack of political will in the richer countries to help return the wealth plundered by corrupt politicians of developing world. He questioned why offshore tax havens existed in this day and time?
