Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has called for dealing with the major challenge confronting the world today to achieve international peace and security on the basis of equity and UN Charter principles.
“We all know peace and development are mutually reinforcing and without peace we cannot even think of development and prosperity,” Khar said while speaking at the NAM ministerial meeting during an interactive debate on Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance, on Tuesday. She said the world today was inflicted by many paradoxes, marked by interdependence and inequality, connectivity and chaos, islands of prosperity and oceans of abject poverty, technological prowess and underdevelopment, hegemony and repression, all existing side by side and causing all sorts of upheavals and turmoil in the world.
“In this backdrop the theme of the Conference ‘Lasting Peace Through Joint Global Governance’ is both relevant and pertinent.” The foreign minister said Pakistan believed that for peace, security and prosperity a just solution of Palestine issue on the basis of Palestinian people’s right to self-determination is essential. Khar said in South Asian region, Afghanistan would need support of the NAM fraternity as it moved towards the transition phase in 2014 – and through the transformation decade.
She said the founding principles of NAM, including peaceful coexistence, respect for human rights, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states and non-interference and non-intervention in internal affairs of other countries provide the firm basis for enduring peace, stability and development in the world.
The foreign minister said “as a vibrant democracy, Pakistan holds promotion and protection of human rights and democratic ideals very dear to its heart. It is deeply committed to nurturing and strengthening of these values.”
She said disarmament and non-proliferation was an important area for the global peace and security. “The NAM has been a strong proponent of evolving new consensus in this critical area through early convening of SSOD-IV.” She believed that the new consensus should be based on equity and objective criteria, rather than selectivity and discrimination, adding that equal and undiminished security for all states must be the norm to ensure global peace and security.
On the growing confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme that threatens further instability in the broader region, she said dialogue and diplomacy should be the only instruments to resolve outstanding issues. She said Pakistan believes that a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible on the basis of reciprocal confidence-building measures and security assurances against external threats. She stressed for economic and social development of the member countries to build and sustain peaceful, prosperous and harmonious societies. Many NAM members have achieved significant and sustained economic growth yet the challenge of development continues to be formidable for all NAM countries. She pointed out that efforts have so far failed to make even modest progress towards introducing equity in international trade, inter alia, through the Doha Round.
