UNSC responsible for lasting settlement of Kashmir dispute: Fatemi.
Minister underscores Pakistan’s association with peace missions.
Islamabad to host UN Peacekeeping meeting from April 15 to 16.
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Tuesday called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to implement its own resolutions promising the Kashmiri people the right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite aimed at resolving the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
“It is the responsibility of this Council to ensure the realisation of that right for the Kashmiri people, and promote a just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, by taking measures to implement its own resolutions,” said Minister of State on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.
His remarks came during a high-level Council debate on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Advancing Adaptability in UN Peace Operations — Responding to New Realities”.
Speaking on the occasion, Fatemi reminded the UNSC members that the Kashmir dispute awaits a just and final settlement in accordance with the relevant resolutions that promised the Kashmiri people the right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite.
“As others have stated, it is important to address the root causes of the conflicts to establish durable peace,” he noted, adding that Islamabad was due to host to the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) that was established in 1949 to monitor the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region.
The minister also underscored the country’s long association with UN peacekeeping operations, as one of the longest-serving and leading troop contributors and a founding member of the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
Fatemi highlighted that Pakistan deployed 235,000 peacekeepers in 48 Missions across the globe and that 181 Pakistani peacekeepers paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of international peace and security.
More than 3,267 Pakistani men and women are proudly serving in blue helmets in seven Missions today, he added.
Noting that Pakistan was hosting the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial preparatory meeting in Islamabad from April 15 to April 16, the SAPM also tabled multiple proposals with regard to the challenges confronting UN peacekeeping operations.
Urging the UNSC to unified and consistent support to all UN Peace Operations to ensure the effective implementation of their mandates, Fatemi called for tailoring of peace missions’ mandates according to the ground realities.
He also suggested the deployment of peacekeeping operations in support of clearly identified political objectives, with the primacy of political solutions for the resolution of conflicts.
Stressing the need to ensure that commensurate resources were placed at the disposal of peacekeepers to perform their mandates, the minister said that it was necessary to provision appropriate training to peacekeepers with modern equipment to deal with the threat posed by the weaponisation of technologies.
Lastly, the SAPM called for making peace operations art of a peace continuum approach, with proactive and systematic engagement with the Peacebuilding Commission.