Pakistan has made a strong plea for resolving the two “oldest unresolved
disputes on the UN agenda” — Kashmir and Palestine — to enable the
struggling peoples of those lands exercise their right to
self-determination.
“Self-determination is a basic human right which cannot be applied
selectively,” Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told the annual
co-ordination meeting of OIC foreign ministers, who met on the
sidelines of the 66th session of UN General Assembly.
“We are meeting here at a time when the Palestinian aspirations for
a national homeland appear to be entering a decisive phase,” she said,
referring the application submitted by Palestine President Mahmoud
Abbas for UN membership as a state.
At this critical juncture, we stand with our Palestinian brethren
for their legitimate demand for an independent State with Al-Quds
Al-Sharif as its capital, and its recognition by the United Nations,”
the foreign minister said.
On Kashmir, Khar said the prospect of a lasting peace in South Asia
was directly linked with a just and durable solution of the Jammu and
Kashmir dispute. Pakistan had repeatedly underlined this fundamental
reality in its engagement with India. Pakistan also supports
associating the true representatives of the Kashmiri people with the
Pakistan-India dialogue process.
The foreign minister said the Kashmiri people were hopeful that the
OIC will raise its voice in support of the Kashmiri people’s demand for
an international investigation into the unmarked mass graves discovered
in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
Referring to the situation in Afghanistan, she said Pakistan was
closely working with the Afghan Government and the international
community for early return of peace and stability in the war-torn
country. “We fully support President Hamid Karzai’s initiative for an
Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process.
The foreign minister strongly condemned the assassination of former
president Burhanuddin Rabbani who was working for Afghan
reconciliation.
Enumerating the “huge losses” inflicted by terrorists on Pakistan,
she said, “We remain un-wavered in our resolve to eliminate terrorism
from our country and beyond. We are determined to pursue terrorists to
the very end.”
About the trend in the west to link Islam with terrorism, she said,
“We, therefore, strongly reject the canard of ‘Islamic terrorism’.”
“The recent incident in Norway is a clear manifestation that terrorists
have no religion, no nationality and no values.”
