UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Maleeha Lodhi said that Trump’s controversial decision on Jerusalem shall wreak havoc in the already disturbed Middle East.
While speaking in the Security Council debate on challenges to international peace and security, Lodhi said that people continue to suffer in both Palestine and Kashmir while the world continues to watch them struggle indifferently.
The Pakistani envoy stressed on the implementation of all resolutions of the Security Council, adding that selective implementation does not achieve the desired results and weakens the credibility of the UN.
She further told the 15-member council that the disputes of Kashmir and Palestine were compounding the challenges to an already dangerous world beset with wide-ranging new threats as older ones persist. She deplored the fact that long-standing and internationally-recognised Kashmir and Palestine issues continue to fester, augmenting “challenges of a more turbulent and volatile world.”
The drivers of such challenges include unresolved long-standing disputes, foreign military interventions, political and economic injustice, terrorism and violent extremism, and displacement of populations due to persecution, poverty and conflict, the Pakistani envoy said adding that what was needed was a shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention.
There is obviously no one-size-fits-all solution to conflict prevention, Ambassador Lodhi said, adding moving a country towards durable peace begins with a clear understanding of the sources and nature of conflicts.
Noting that more blue helmets were currently deployed than at any time in history, she said that UN peacekeeping has always been a cost-effective tool for the maintenance of international peace and security, but peacekeeping needs to be strengthened through support for political solutions that would make peace durable and sustainable.
In this context, Ambassador Lodhi outlined a set of suggestions to address the complex contemporary challenges to peace and security. They include dealing with the root causes of conflict; shifting from emphasis on military action to negotiation; national ownership and leadership; better utilisation of Chapter VI of the UN Charter – ‘negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means’; and shaping the UN peacekeeping by the situation on ground, not by the often competing political interests.
“Proliferation of conflicts today is a clear sign of the need for urgent action,” the Pakistani envoy said. “Fundamental change in the way we deal with conflicts is required.”