Kashmir, Palestine UN’s glaring failures: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday the disputes of Kashmir and Palestine were the United Nations’ (UN) “most glaring and longstanding failures”.

“The people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir still await fulfilment of the commitment made to them by the UN to grant them their right to self-determination,” the foreign minister said in his virtual address from Islamabad to a high-level meeting on the commemoration of 75th anniversary of the UN in New York.

Qureshi stressed that the peoples of the UN “must rise up to reverse the tides of despair and prevent forebodings from turning into self-fulfilling prophecies”. “Today, the UN is derided as a ‘talk shop’ with its resolutions and decisions being flouted,” he said, pointing out that international cooperation, especially in the Security Council, was at its lowest.

Qureshi acknowledged that the UN had helped prevent the destruction visited upon humanity twice within a generation. “It has advanced arms control, facilitated decolonisation, assisted in tackling climate change and addressing threats to the environment, aided in establishing a freer, more equal and rules-based world, and worked to end hunger, disease and poverty through the Sustainable Development Goals,” he added. But, he said, the euphoria must not un-sight of its failings and deficiencies.

Terming the UN’s diamond jubilee a landmark occasion, the foreign minister said the UN was “hope born of the ashes of unmitigated suffering of war and misplaced notions of superiority of some over the others”. He mentioned that the organisation addressed the historic need “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm equal and fundamental rights of men, women, and nations and to promote better life in larger freedoms”.

Qureshi said the very forces that led to the Second World War, racism and fascism were taking the shape of rising xenophobia and Islamophobia. “While we have seen enormous international cooperation to combat Covid-19, the UN has failed to unify humanity as it could have,” he said, adding: “But Pakistan has been and remains an ardent believer in multilateralism and the indispensability of the UN.”

Qureshi said Pakistan had been on the UN Security Council seven times, headed ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) five times, and led the UN General Assembly and the G77. “We are active participants in reform processes, including the reform of the Security Council,” he added.

“Pakistan has contributed over 200,000 troops to 47 missions in 26 countries, losing 157 of our bravest in the process,” he said, adding: “We have hosted the largest protracted refugee population.”

The foreign minister said where other countries, subscribing to fascist ideologies, flouted UN principles and claimed privileged status at the high table only by virtue of size, strength and a misplaced sense of entitlement, Pakistan continued to bear without complaint, more than its fair share of burden. “In this noble endeavour, you will find Pakistan always by your side,” Qureshi concluded on the note of assurance to the UN.