Urging the international community to take notice of incitement against billions of Muslims of the world, President Asif Zardari on Tuesday stressed the need to criminalize actions that destroy the peace of the world and endanger world security by misusing freedom of expression.
Addressing the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Zardari urged the UN member states to immediately address the concerns of the world’s Muslims and the widening rift to enable the comity of nations to be one again.
Zardari also called for reform of the United Nation. “The UN system must become more democratic and more accountable. Reform should be based on consensus and democratic principles,” he said.
“Being a democratic country, we believe that legitimate aspirations of any people should be accommodated peacefully and in a manner consistent with sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said.
The president said that there are a lot of questions that are asked of Pakistan. “I am not here to answer questions about Pakistan. The people of Pakistan have already answered them. The politicians of Pakistan have answered them. The soldiers of Pakistan have answered them. We have lost over 7,000 Pakistani soldiers and policemen, and over 37,000 civilians.
We have lost our Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti and my friend Salmaan Taseer to the mindset of extremism. And I need not remind my friends here today, that I bear a personal scar,” he said, adding that terrorism and extremism have destroyed human lives, torn social fabric, and devastated the economy.
President Zardari also criticized the international community for supporting dictatorships in Pakistan, which he said were responsible for suffocating and throttling Pakistan, the state institutions, and democracy.
“I remember the judicial execution of Pakistan’s first elected leader, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. I remember the jailing of Pakistan’s elected leaders. I remember the twelve years I, myself spent in prison. And I remember the billions provided by the international community to support those dictatorships. My country, its social fabric, its very character has been altered. Our condition today is a product of dictatorships,” he said.
Zardari said the growing regional pivot in Pakistan’s foreign policy is a reflection of his government’s democratic policy-making. “In engaging with our region, we are changing the future. In China our strategic partnership is growing from strength to strength. In Afghanistan, we have begun to engage and deepen our friendship with the entire range of the Afghan political spectrum. We believe that a sovereign, stable and secure Afghanistan is good for the Afghan people. And what is good for the Afghan people is good for Pakistan,” he said.
The president also stressed upon Pakistan’s relations with India. “Our principled position on territorial disputes remains a bedrock of our foreign policy. We will continue to support the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to peacefully choose their destiny in accordance with the UN Security Council’s long-standing resolutions on this matter. Kashmir remains a symbol of the failures, rather than strengths of the UN system. We feel that resolution of these issues can only be arrived in an environment of cooperation,” he said.
President Zardari thanked the European Union for recognizing the value of trade to Pakistan. “We seek trade, rather than aid. By granting trade concession to Pakistan, the EU has sent a positive message. The trade concessions will help us revive the economy and fight terrorism,” he said.
Freedom of expression is good, misuse a crime
