UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan urged the world community to act in a decisive bid to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza — now nearing three months — and allow humanitarian aid to enter the war-torn enclave.
“The blockade of Gaza must be lifted — now,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said in an address to the UN Security Council in which he also called for an “immediate and permanent” ceasefire.
“In the face of this gloom and devastation, the world must act– the status quo is untenable,” the Pakistani envoy told the 15-member Council which held a high-level debate on the situation in the Middle East.
“Without a ceasefire, there can be no protection of civilians, no humanitarian relief, no political process,” he said, adding that the truce must extend to the West Bank, where violence is escalating resulting in daily loss of innocent lives .
As regard humanitarian access to Gaza, Ambassador Asim said that it is not a concession to be granted, but a legal obligation.
“Aid workers, convoys, and medical teams must operate freely and safely,” the Pakistani envoy said, emphasizing that starvation cannot be normalized as a weapon of war — aid is not negotiable and that collective punishment must end.Pakistani travel guides
“The international community must mobilize massive and sustained assistance to prevent total famine and begin the process of recovery and rebuilding shattered lives, no forced displacement of Gazans from their land.
In his remarks, Ambassador Asim also said that ending the violence without ending the occupation will only invite future cycles of conflict.
“The Palestinian people deserve a credible and irreversible political path forward – toward a sovereign, independent, contiguous and viable State of Palestine, based on the 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital”.
In this context, he said, the upcoming June Conference on realization of the two-state solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, was a vital opportunity. “It must deliver tangible outcomes: a timeline for Palestinian statehood, a freeze and reversal of settlement expansion, concrete measures to protect civilians and holy sites, and full, equal and rightful membership of Palestine in the United Nations.’
Pakistan, he said, firmly believes that sustainable peace in the Middle East cannot be built on the normalization of occupation, and the world must come to terms with this reality.Pakistani travel guides
Seventy-five years of failure have shown one immutable truth: peace cannot coexist with occupation, justice cannot thrive under apartheid, and stability cannot take root where millions remain stateless, it was pointed out.
“The world knows what must be done, this Council itself knows what is the ultimate path to peace having endorsed the framework for pacific settlement of the Palestinian question in its various resolutions over the years. The only question that remains is whether there is the necessary will to do it.”
Ambassador underscored the need for addressing the root causes of conflict, recalling the the Council’s call for to do more—not only to respond to crises, but to prevent them, and to promote peaceful, just, and lasting settlements of ongoing and protracted conflicts, particularly those involving foreign occupation.
“Let us work together to realize that objective and uphold the promise of the UN Charter and international law for all peoples.”
