Pakistan, 1994

The Pakistan delegation

congratulates you warmly, Sir, on your election to preside

over this important forty-ninth session of the United

Nations General Assembly. Your election is a fitting

tribute to your experience and outstanding achievements.

It is also an expression of the high regard in which the

international community holds your great country. We are

confident that under your able stewardship this Assembly

will succeed in advancing the noble aims and objectives of

our Charter.

I wish also to record my delegation’s profound

appreciation for your predecessor, Ambassador Samuel

Insanally of Guyana. He presided most ably over the

Assembly as well as over the important Working Group on

Security Council reforms.

The principal purpose of this world Organization is

"to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war".

The United Nations must ensure that the twilight of the

twentieth century is not as bloody as was its dawn. We

must act resolutely to end the series of regional conflicts

that currently threaten international peace and stability.

The civil war in Afghanistan has compounded the

suffering imposed on its people during the long and

victorious struggle against foreign occupation. The world

community should not forsake the Afghan people. We

must continue to demand an immediate end to the

hostilities. We must promote a new political consensus

for the future governance of Afghanistan. To facilitate

this, we must commence reconstruction in the peaceful

parts of the country.

We welcome the temporary truce in Tajikistan.

Pakistan hopes that the preliminary steps agreed will be

implemented by the parties. This is essential to ensure

the success of the third round of United Nations-

sponsored talks, to be held in Islamabad later this month.

The United Nations must encourage the peaceful

resolution of the Cyprus issue on the basis of a bi-

communal and bi-zonal federation, in which the Turkish

Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot community would have

equal status.

The Security Council must act, under Chapter VII of

the Charter, to implement its own resolutions, reverse the

Armenian aggression and restore the unity and territorial

integrity of Azerbaijan.

We all bear a collective responsibility for the failure

to halt and reverse Serbian aggression against Bosnia and

Herzegovina. A holocaust has taken place before the

eyes of the world. Two hundred thousand Bosnians,

mostly Muslims, have been killed. Of them, 30,000 were

innocent children. Forty thousand Muslim women have

been systematically raped by the Serbs. Millions of

Muslim men, women and children have been ejected

forcibly and brutally from their homes.

While the aggression was going on, the major

Powers went through the motions of promoting peace.

The Security Council adopted 50 resolutions, but it has

yet to implement them. Mediators appointed by the

United Nations and the European Union advocated peace

plans that rewarded the aggressor and penalized the

victim. Even the right to self-defence has been denied to

the Bosnians. The United Nations Protection Force has

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supervised relief but failed to stop the war or protect the

Bosnian people. It was only when the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization carried out - belatedly - the threat of

air strikes that the Serbs halted their onslaught against

Goradze and Sarajevo.

The Bosnian Serbs have rejected the peace plan, which

is, in truth, unjust to the Bosnian Muslims. It does not

entirely reverse "ethnic cleansing". It does not punish the

aggressor. It does not ensure the territorial integrity of the

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia should be

offered peace with justice, otherwise peace will not endure.

Pakistan and other Islamic countries are appalled at the

Security Council’s recent decision to ease the sanctions

against Belgrade - the root cause of the aggression against

Bosnia and Herzegovina. This will not stop the flow of

military supplies to the Bosnian Serbs. It will merely

encourage Serbian intransigence.

The Bosnian Muslims must be allowed to exercise

their right to self-defence. Pakistan and other Islamic

countries fully support the demand for the immediate lifting

of the arms embargo against Bosnia and Herzegovina. We

regret the threats by certain countries to withdraw their

troops from the United Nations Protection Force

(UNPROFOR) if the embargo is lifted. The Islamic States

will be ready to contribute their troops to UNPROFOR to

compensate for any shortfall created by such withdrawals.

We call for vigorous steps by UNPROFOR to effectively

protect and provision Sarajevo and other safe areas. We

also urge the creation of exclusion zones around all safe

areas.

If expansionism is not stopped in Bosnia, if genocide

is not punished, the virus of war will spread to Kosovo, to

Sandjak and perhaps to the entire Balkans. A wider

conflict in this volatile region could have the most serious

consequences for peace and security in Europe and the

Mediterranean.

A grim and bloody struggle is also going on in Jammu

and Kashmir. As in Bosnia, it is an unequal struggle -

between the defenceless Kashmiri people and an Indian

occupation force that now numbers 600,000. In Kashmir,

as in Bosnia, the principles of the Charter, of international

law and of international morality have been violated with

impunity.

The struggle of the Kashmiri people is just and

legitimate. They were promised by the United Nations

Security Council - and by India and Pakistan - that they

would decide, through a United Nations-supervised

plebiscite, whether they wished to join India or Pakistan.

On 26 June 1952, the late Prime Minister of India,

Mr. Nehru, stated in the Indian Parliament:

"If, after a proper plebiscite, the people of Kashmir

said, ’We do not want to be with India’, we are

committed to accept that ... we will not send an

army against them".

But India has gone back on its agreement. It refuses

to implement the Security Council resolutions. It has sent

its army against the people of Kashmir. It has chosen to

crush the Kashmiri freedom movement by brute force.

Over the past five years, 40,000 Kashmiris have been

killed; thousands more are in Indian jails. Thousands of

Kashmiri women have been raped by Indian soldiers as

part of a policy to break the spirit of the Kashmiri people.

Whole villages and neighbourhoods have been put to the

torch. Torture is routine; disappearances are common;

and summary executions are standard practice in Kashmir.

India’s massive violations of human rights have been

well documented by impartial organizations and

observers, such as Amnesty International, Asia Watch, the

International Federation of Human Rights, the

International Commission of Jurists, Physicians for

Human Rights and many others. The world knows about

Indian barbarism in Kashmir. It is unfortunate that the

world has remained silent so far.

When faced with the possibility of censure by this

Assembly last year, India offered to resume talks with

Pakistan on Kashmir. In the talks held last January, India

displayed no desire for a settlement. It repeated the

fiction that Kashmir was an integral part of India. The

Indian Foreign Secretary told us that India had the right

to use as much force as it wanted to prevent Kashmir

from breaking away. When the issue was raised at the

Commission on Human Rights, India offered cosmetic

concessions to prevent the dispatch of a United Nations

fact-finding mission to Kashmir. Thereafter, it denied it

had made such a deal.

On the ground as well, India escalated its repression

as soon as international pressure was eased. The day

after we agreed to resume talks, India conducted a

massacre in Sopore, killing 50 Kashmiris. Once India

had concluded that the major Powers would overlook its

human rights violations because of the lure of trade and

profits in India, the repression against the Kashmiris and

the rhetoric against Pakistan sharply escalated.

11

Let me quote from the conclusions of the latest report

of Human Rights Watch/Asia, entitled: India: Continuing

Repression in Kashmir (August 1994, vol. 6, No. 8)

"As this report amply illustrates, the human

rights situation in Kashmir is getting worse at a time

when international pressure on the Indian Government

has all but ceased. Indeed, it could be argued that the

increase in deaths in custody and other abuses over

the last six months is not unrelated to the signals sent

by India’s one-time critics, notably the United States:

that human rights would no longer feature prominently

in bilateral discussions". (p. 20)

I have seen the statement made here yesterday by the

Commerce Minister of India. While I can fully subscribe

to the high ideals which he has propounded, I find myself

in the same situation as the distinguished philosopher the

late Mr. Bertrand Russell, when he observed that

"When one observes that the high idealism of the

Indian Government in international matters breaks

down completely with the question of Kashmir, it is

difficult to avoid a feeling of despair".

India preens itself and postures on the issue of

terrorism. Terrorism is the use of indiscriminate violence

against innocent people. This must be condemned. By this

yardstick, India is guilty of daily and systematic acts of

terrorism against the Kashmiris. On the other hand, to

resist a foreign invader, to repel an army of occupation

engaged in murder, torture, rape and arson is not terrorism.

It is the exercise of self-defence. Self-defence is a right as

old as history; a right recognized in the United Nations

Charter. Distinguished representatives: If your son was

killed, and his body was thrown on your doorstep, how

would you respond? If your daughter was gang-raped by

the soldiers of an occupation army, what would be your

response? The Kashmiri people have the right - under

international law, under our Charter, under our resolutions

- to resist the Indian army of occupation by all the means

at their disposal. Their heroic struggle cannot be dismissed

as terrorism. It is a valiant freedom movement which

deserves the full support of the international community.

Pakistan is a party to the Kashmir dispute. Our people

are incensed at India’s brutal killing of our Kashmiri

brothers and sisters. We have, nevertheless, acted with

restraint. We have extended moral, political and diplomatic

support to the Kashmiris.

We have refrained from extending military help to them.

The Indian allegations of Pakistan’s support for the

so-called militants are designed to explain away the

resilience of the Kashmiri freedom movement, to erode

international sympathy and support for the Kashmiris and,

more ominously, to create perhaps a casus belli for a new

aggression against Pakistan.

The Kashmir crisis poses a growing threat to

international peace and security. On India’s independence

day this year, Prime Minister Rao demanded all of

Kashmir. In recent months, Indian politicians and

generals have threatened to launch attacks across the Line

of Control. India’s violations of the cease-fire have

escalated. During August alone, the United Nations

Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan

(UNMOGIP) recorded 142 complaints from Pakistan of

Indian cease-fire violations. Indian firing across the Line

of Control is specifically aimed at civilians. In the past

five years, over 600 civilians have been killed on our side

of the line. Pakistan’s self-restraint should not be

misunderstood. Indian aggression will have disastrous

consequences.

There are three priorities in addressing the Kashmir

question: first, to avert the threat of a conflict; secondly,

to ameliorate the suffering of the Kashmiri people; and,

thirdly, to open a credible diplomatic process designed to

achieve a just and peaceful solution to the Kashmir

dispute.

To arrest the threat to peace, I have addressed a

letter to the President of the Security Council proposing

that the United Nations Military Observer Group for India

and Pakistan should be substantially enlarged from its

present size of 35 observers. UNMOGIP should be

allowed to perform its mandate of patrolling both sides of

the Line of Control. This would help to stem cease-fire

violations, lower tensions and avoid the danger of a

conflict. The enlarged United Nations Observer Group

could also ascertain the veracity of India’s allegations that

Pakistan is providing military assistance to the Kashmiri

struggle. I hope that the Security Council will approve

our proposal. I hope that India will allow the United

Nations Observers to discharge their mandate of patrolling

on both sides of the Line of Control.

Secondly, to ameliorate the suffering of the Kashmiri

people, India should take some genuine steps to halt its

12

repression. We note with satisfaction that concern about

opinion at this Assembly has convinced India to release at

least two of the imprisoned Kashmiri leaders. This is a

victory for the Kashmiri freedom struggle. These aging and

ailing leaders will, we hope, be allowed to proceed abroad

for medical treatment. Shabir Ahmed Shah, who, like

Nelson Mandela, has spent 20 years in prison because of

his commitment to freedom, has not been released. The

world community must demand the release of this prisoner

of conscience.

There is no evidence that India has given up its

repressive strategy in Kashmir. This will become visible

once India lifts the Draconian emergency laws operative in

Kashmir, releases all the Kashmiris detained in Indian jails,

withdraws a part of its huge force from Kashmir, and

allows human rights organizations and humanitarian

agencies free access to the occupied Valley of Kashmir.

And we hope the international community will not forget

the victims of Indian atrocities. As in Bosnia and Rwanda,

the human rights violations which have been documented

and reported by impartial agencies must be investigated by

an international tribunal, and those who are found guilty

must be punished.

Finally, the efforts to promote a political settlement of

the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must take into account

three realities.

First, the Kashmiri freedom struggle cannot be crushed

by force. New Delhi’s forecasts of imminent success are

designed to deceive the Indian public and world public

opinion. The Indian army is caught in a quagmire.

Secondly, despite India’s assertions about Pakistan’s

interference, the Kashmiri struggle is obviously indigenous.

The Line of Control in Kashmir has 400 soldiers per

kilometre. The Indians have wired and mined the Line.

Nothing can get through. United Nations monitoring of the

Line can verify this. No external force can convince the

Kashmiris to offer the kind of sacrifices being made by

Kashmiri men, women and children in the cause of

freedom. For five years the Kashmiris have sustained their

struggle. They will continue their struggle even if Pakistan

wishes otherwise.

Thirdly, no credible Kashmiri group or leader accepts

a "solution" for Kashmir within the Indian Union. The

so-called political process advertised by India is wishful

thinking. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which

groups 34 Kashmiri political parties and organizations, has

rejected any settlement short of freedom from India.

Arriving in Srinagar after his release two days ago,

Abdul Ghani Lone said:

"Any elections to be held in Kashmir are to be

under the auspices of the United Nations and ... only

for the right of self-determination".

The other released Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Shah Ghani,

said:

"Elections are no answer to the problem in Kashmir.

The people of the State do not accept anything short

of freedom. There will be no compromise in the

fight for self-determination".

India’s attempt to organize another fraudulent

election in Kashmir will prove abortive. As the Security

Council declared in 1957, such unilateral actions cannot

be considered as the basis for the "final disposition" of

Jammu and Kashmir. This can only be done through a

United Nations-supervised plebiscite prescribed by the

Security Council. A final settlement of the Kashmir

dispute will have to be based on the freely expressed

wishes of the Kashmiri people. In a paper transmitted to

India last February, Pakistan outlined the possible

modalities for ascertaining their wishes.

Pakistan welcomes the Secretary-General’s offer to

exert every possible effort to "facilitate the search for a

lasting solution to the Kashmir issue" (A/49/1, para. 542).

We hope India will also accept the Secretary-General’s

offer of good offices, as Pakistan has done. Pakistan is

prepared for talks with India on Kashmir. It was Pakistan

which initiated the Foreign Secretary-level talks. But

after six rounds of talks it is evident to us that India’s

ostensible desire for negotiations with Pakistan carries

little credibility while it continues the killing in Kashmir.

Pakistan does not reject dialogue, but it must not be a

dialogue of the deaf.

Kashmir is a dispute between India and Pakistan.

Every dispute between two States is bilateral. It is also

an international issue. The United Nations is obliged to

take cognizance of such disputes, specially when they

involve violations of the United Nations Charter and the

non-implementation of Security Council resolutions.

Kashmir is the key to unlocking the problems of

South Asia. Kashmir cannot be brushed aside any longer.

The conspiracy of silence must be broken. A resolution

of the Kashmir situation is required to avoid the danger

of a conflict. A solution of the Kashmir dispute will also

13

enhance the prospects of conventional arms control and

non-proliferation in South Asia.

My Government believes that to reduce the danger of

war in South Asia it is essential to promote a balance in

conventional arms between Pakistan and India, at the lowest

possible levels. India fields the third largest army in the

world. Almost all of it is deployed against Pakistan.

During the past decade India was the world’s largest arms

importer. Even during the Afghan war, India’s arms

acquisitions were over five times those of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s defence capabilities have deteriorated further

since 1990. Last year, while Pakistan’s defence spending

declined in real terms, India’s increased by 20 per cent.

Pakistan has made several proposals to India for

conventional arms control: negotiation of a mutually

agreed ratio of forces; measures to prevent the possibilities

of a surprise attack, adoption of agreed principles for

conventional arms control in South Asia.

Pakistan has no desire to expend more of its scarce

resources on arms. Meaningful arms control and

confidence-building measures could also help to stem the

danger of a nuclear arms race in our region.

Pakistan’s concern about nuclear proliferation in South

Asia precedes the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As

early as the mid-1960s Pakistan had warned the world that

India would misuse nuclear cooperation. The late Prime

Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto proposed the creation of a

South Asia nuclear-free zone in 1972. In May 1974 India

exploded the bomb - ironically calling it the "Smiling

Buddha". Pakistan made every endeavour to counter

proliferation in South Asia. Apart from the nuclear-

weapon-free zone, we advanced subsequent proposals: for

the simultaneous signature of the NPT by India and

Pakistan, for acceptance of full-scope safeguards, for joint

renunciation of nuclear weapons, for a bilateral test-ban

treaty. All have been spurned by India. A proposal made

by the United States for a conference to promote

non-proliferation in South Asia, involving Russia, the

People’s Republic of China and the United States, as well

as India and Pakistan, was also rejected by New Delhi.

Pakistan has displayed responsibility and restraint in

the nuclear field. While we have acquired a certain

technological capability, we have not manufactured or

exploded a nuclear device. We have not deployed nuclear

weapons. We have not transferred sensitive technologies.

Twenty years after exploding its nuclear bomb, India

is about to take another fateful step towards proliferation:

the production and deployment of nuclear-capable ballistic

missiles. India is continuing work on its medium-range

AGNI missile as well as on intercontinental ballistic

missiles. It conducted user trials of the short-range

Prithvi this year. The Prithvi is a mobile missile. Once

it is produced, Pakistan will have to presume that it has

been deployed.

It is still not too late to prevent nuclear-weapon

proliferation in South Asia. Pakistan suggests two critical

steps to avoid this danger.

First, we suggest an agreement between India and

Pakistan not to develop or deploy ballistic missiles.

India’s production and deployment of the Prithvi will

invite a matching response from Pakistan. We have

advanced the concept of a Zero Missile Zone in South

Asia. This objective should be endorsed by the world

community.

Secondly, we suggest an agreement between India

and Pakistan not to manufacture or deploy nuclear

weapons. We hope India will respond positively to this

longstanding proposal. We hope it will agree, as a first

step, to issue a joint declaration with Pakistan renouncing

nuclear weapons.

It is unfortunate that India and Pakistan have never

succeeded in solving any of their disputes through

bilateral negotiations. Agreements reached on two major

problems - the Indus Waters Treaty and the Rann of

Kutch Accord - were made possible by the intercession of

a third party.

At this critical moment, when tensions are high and

peace is threatened in South Asia, the States Members of

the United Nations have a fundamental responsibility to

bring to bear their collective influence to promote

solutions to the interlinked problems of Kashmir,

conventional arms conflict and non-proliferation.

14

Pakistan desires good-neighbourly relations with India.

We want our people to devote their energies to the vital

task of nation-building. We want to banish from our midst

the spectre of rampant poverty. We want our people to live

with dignity. These goals cannot be attained unless we

resolve the Kashmir problem and others and build a climate

of trust and confidence in South Asia.

Pakistan has embarked on a new path of

socio-economic revival and growth. We have released the

dynamism of our private sector. We have created an

economic climate that is most hospitable to domestic and

foreign investment, and the results have been most

gratifying. Agreements for foreign investment of $4 billion

were concluded 10 days ago with a delegation led by the

United States Secretary of Energy. Additional investment

is likely in the energy, telecommunications, electronics and

other dynamic sectors of the Pakistan economy.

Today, Pakistan and all of South Asia have the chance

to break out of the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.

We must not lose this chance. We must not let history pass

us by again.

We meet on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the

United Nations. The end of the cold war has released both

positive and negative forces that were long suppressed.

The principles of democracy, human rights and free markets

have triumphed. We have celebrated the entry into the

United Nations of many new States, proud and free. The

victory of democracy has been achieved in South Africa.

The victory of peace may well be realized in the Middle

East. Today, there is no threat of a global nuclear war.

Unprecedented affluence has been achieved in parts of the

world. Momentous technological breakthroughs have been

made. We now have the potential to achieve global peace,

address global problems and promote global prosperity.

But even as we celebrate these victories, the triumphs

of reason and statesmanship, we must confront the dark

forces of aggression, racism, fascism and bigotry, which

have again raised their head in many parts of the world.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that once the restraints of

the cold war structures were lifted, conflicts and disputes -

between States and within them - should have erupted like

an epidemic. The world community has been unprepared

to confront and repel aggression - witness Bosnia,

Azerbaijan and Kashmir. We have been unable to muster

the political will to stop genocide - witness Rwanda. We

are unprepared to pay the price to help the hungry and save

the deprived of the Earth - witness the Sahel.

The principal task of this session must be to revive

hope, to restore the confidence of our peoples, that we,

the States Members of the United Nations, acting

together, can build peace where it is broken; that we can

bring solace to those who are suffering; that we can

uphold and enforce justice where this is needed; and that

we can enlarge the horizons of prosperity to embrace

those teeming millions who are imprisoned in poverty.