Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Friday said that countries and companies guilty of climate-induced devastation in Pakistan must fulfill their obligation of cutting carbon emissions and releasing pledged climate funds for climate-vulnerable countries.
“Today it is Pakistan but tomorrow, it can be another country”, the Speaker expressed these views in his meeting with the Arab group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said a news release.
The meeting was held to seek Arab countries’ cooperation for the Assembly’s proposal of a global climate fund via the forthcoming 145th IPU Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda from October 15, 2022.
The Speaker said that climate tragedy in Pakistan resulted in colossal losses of lives and livelihood, which were beyond imagination.
The calamity was not over rather it had outstretched in the form of diseases and food crises. Moreover, it has been negatively impacting the country’s economy, which has already suffered losses above 30 billion US dollars, remarked the Speaker.
He urged the Arab countries to back the proposal of the National Assembly for creation of a global fund by moving an emergency item in the forthcoming IPU Assembly. “The proposal is to demand climate justice for Pakistan by extending judicious support for the flood-ravaged country,” he added.
He also appreciated the generous assistance received from brotherly Arab countries and further said that they always supported Pakistan whenever the need arose and hopefully would continue to do so in that case as well.
The Arab group expressed solidarity with the Speaker over the tragedy and assured to pass on the message to their respective governments and parliaments for backing Pakistan’s demand for climate justice.
They agreed that climate change was one of the greatest challenges at the moment and required collective and sincere efforts from all stakeholders, particularly the big polluters.
The Palestinian delegation appreciated the unequivocal support of Pakistan for furthering the cause of Palestinian freedom.
The delegates from Jordan also expressed their gratitude to the people of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan for supporting Jordan, especially during war.
The meeting was attended by delegates fromw Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Palestine, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
