Pakistan calls for urgent UNSC action on Middle East situation

Terming the resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict as key to a just and durable peace in the Middle East, Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Hussain Haroon warned on Tuesday that increased illegal settlement activity, settler attacks, Gaza blockade and vandalisation of holy sites, were on tenterhooks, and a small ignition could turn it into a fire that could threaten regional stability.
He was speaking in a debate on “Situation in the Middle East: Challenges and Opportunities”. The ambassador called for urgent action by the UNSC in order to avoid escalation of tensions in the region. The recent spate of reform in the Middle East, he reiterated, should not pass the Palestinians by, he said. Speaking about the Arab Spring, Hussain said that Pakistan fully supported the fulfillment of legitimate aspirations of people. The process, he added, had to be within the confines of international law and provisions of the Charter of the UN. The ambassador said that concepts such as interference in internal affairs of sovereign states and regime change were against the ethos of international good neighbourliness. The concept of spring, by its nature, was peaceful and gradual, and it should neither be forced nor abrupt, he added.
“Pakistan fully supports a locally driven reform process, and condemns violence and violations of human rights wherever they are committed, and irrespective of who the perpetrators are”, Hussain said. The debate on the situation in the Middle East was convened by the UK, in its capacity as the president of the council for March, and was also attended by the UN secretary general as well as the foreign ministers of the UK, US, Russia, France, Portugal, Germany and Guatemala.