Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK CITY: Pakistan has warned the international community India’s aggressive policies and military posture posed an “immediate and pervasive threat” to world peace and security.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, said that instead of bringing humanity together, the pandemic had revealed old fault lines and accentuated existing and emerging threats to international peace and security.
“Strategic competition between big powers, the pursuit of military dominance by some states and the unilateral use of force have gravely jeopardised international peace and security,” the ambassador said.
His address comes days after Dr Moeed Yusuf, special adviser to the prime minister on national security and strategic affairs, told Indian journalist Karan Thapar, during a virtual, all-encompassing interview, laid out conditions for the resumption of bilateral dialogue the requests for which he said the government received in the past year and asked India to stop state-sponsorship of terrorist groups that carry out attacks on Pakistan soil.
Referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India, Akram said: “In our region, the aggressive policies and military posture of the largest state in South Asia which is now ruled by a neo-fascist regime pose an immediate and pervasive threat to international peace and security.”
During his speech, he also highlighted the aerial combat between the two countries in February 2019. “India committed blatant aggression against Pakistan with its infructuous aerial incursion. In subsequent exchanges, it lost two of its aircraft.”
“As a goodwill gesture, Prime Minister Imran Khan returned the captured Indian pilot. The diplomat also commented on India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir and the induction of additional troops in August 2019.
“India has since imposed a military siege in occupied Jammu and Kashmir with a design to annex the occupied territory, change its democracy through illegal immigration and deny its people their right to self-determination as prescribed and upheld by the resolutions of the Security Council.”
He added that Indian forces continue to resort to artillery and small arms fire every day along the Line of Control (LoC) targeting innocent civilians on Pakistan’s side. “There were over 3,000 ceasefire violations in 2019 and over 2,400 this year so far. “Such daily military provocations are accompanied by repeated threats of aggression by India’s political and military leaders. Pakistan has acted with restraint to these provocations and threats, but as we demonstrated in February 2019, Pakistan will respond decisively to any Indian aggression with the full force of our capabilities.”
