PM Abbasi to highlight Kashmir issue, Rohingya crisis in UNGA session

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who has reached New York to attend the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, will meet representatives of at least eight states, including United States Vice President Mike Pence.

In her address before the General Debate on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi said that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would also meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday evening.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, was also present here, along with Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.

Speaking about PM Abbasi’s meeting with the US VP, the foreign secretary said that the US had shown an interest in meeting the PM and the two would meet later this week before the PM’s visit is concluded.Answering a question about US President Donald Trump’s views in a speech about Pakistan in late August, Chaudhry said that the matter would be discussed later this week.

“The Security Council also took a position on it after considering everything and a discussion regarding Afghanistan is very likely to take place. Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan and wants US to cooperate with Pakistan in order to achieve it,” he said. The ambassador and foreign secretary maintained that both countries have open agendas and it was too early to draw conclusions.

“There won’t be a head-on collision pertaining to Afghanistan because we would be following our national interest, not anyone else’s. Our policies are made in Islamabad not Washington. We would like to have good relations with every country in the world on the basis of mutual interest and respect,” the ambassador said.

According to Pakistani diplomats, Abbasi in this visit would bring to light various important matters, including the Kashmir dispute and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. It was told that the PM would also meet the heads of states from Iran, Jordan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Turkey.

In order to showcase Pakistan’s economic progress and stabilisation, the Prime Minister would be attending a lunch organised by the US-Pakistan Business Council, and would also hold a meeting with World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab. He may also meet former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.