United Nations: The leaders of Pakistan generally lose no opportunity to raise the issue of Kashmir on international forums and th
e speech of President Asif Ali Zardari to the world body was no exception.
The Pakistani leader restated Islamabad’s resolve to back the “rights” of Jammu and Kashmir residents’ yesterday afternoon, when he addressed the 67th annual session of the UN General Assembly.
“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 stated.
Zardari’s remarks came despite the fact that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessors had previously made it clear that the UN would not interfere in
the Kashmir dispute, which they essentially termed it as bilateral, unless both parties–India and Pakistan—agreed to the mediation.
New Delhi has time and again ruled out the possibility of any “third-party” mediation on the issue.
In his speech, Zardari also stated that Pakistan’s friendship with Afghanistan had started to improve and urged the international community to remain committed to the 3 million Afghan refugees in his country.
He stressed his country’s commitment to peace and democracy; saying Paksitan had undergone “unprecedented reforms”, while also recalling the country’s difficulties in achieving them.
“Our democracy has brought about many changes,” Zardari said on the first day of the General Debate, which ends on October 1 after the participation of a number of world leaders.
He noted that the “gifts of democracy” included wide-ranging social reforms, the creation of the first social safety net for the country’s poor and a flourishing civil society, as well as enhanced rights for women and the poor.
He also voiced the hope that his administration would be the first civilian government in Pakistan’s 66-year history to complete its full, five-year term.
However, remembering Pakistan’s long and tortured relationship with authoritarianism and terrorism, the president reminded the world leaders that his country’s current troubles were “a product of dictatorships”.
“These dictators and their regimes are responsible for suffocating and throttling Pakistan, Pakistan’s institutions, and Pakistani democracy,” he stated, as he held a photograph of his deceased wife, the former Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.
