NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi 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.
Speaking in the debate on the Middle East, she 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, IoK 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 criticised 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 its funding to the organisation”, 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.
Criticising 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.
