Pakistan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that last month’s NATO cross-border airstrikes that killed over two dozen Pakistani soldiers was a “transgression of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.” “The attack on Pakistan border post on 26 November 2011, which killed 25 soldiers, was a grave incident,” Raza Bashir Tarar, acting Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, told the 15-nation council on Monday. He said Pakistan had abstained from the Bonn Conference as protest against the attack. Raza was speaking in the Security Council’s debate on the report of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday. Tarar cited the UN Secretary General’s report, which termed Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan “paramount in furthering peace, reconciliation and stability”.
He emphasised Pakistan’s commitment to peace, reconciliation and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan, he said, greatly values UNAMA’s role in coordinating a comprehensive international effort in Afghanistan. Pakistan hoped that the review of UNAMA’s mandate would enable the UN to make more meaningful contributions to peace and development of Afghanistan, he said. Rejecting speculative statements, he said that such blame game should stop since it erodes mutual trust.
