Pakistan, 1995

I extend to you, Sir, my

delegation’s felicitations on your well-deserved election

as President of the General Assembly at its fiftieth

session. We have no doubt that with your experience and

wisdom, you will add much to this historic session. We

also pay tribute to your predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Amara Essy, who presided over the Assembly at its

forty-ninth session with great distinction and wisdom.

To His Excellency Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, our

Secretary-General, I would like to pay a special tribute

for all he has done for peace and the promotion of the

United Nations Charter.

To the Republic of Palau, a new Member of our

Organization, I would like to say, “Welcome”. We look

forward to working closely with that country.

We are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the

founding of our Organization. On this momentous

occasion, as the Secretary-General aptly observed in his

report (A/49/1), we must resolve to

“appreciate and strengthen the accomplishments of

the past, to recognize and meet the challenges of the

present, and to design and implement a plan for the

United Nations of the future.” (A/49/1, para. 12)

We must seize this historic opportunity to forge a global

consensus behind development, in all its dimensions, as

the lasting foundation for international peace and security

and as the greatest hope of humanity.

Pakistan has been strongly committed to the noble

vision of the United Nations Charter ever since its

independence. We have continuously abided by its

17

principles. We reaffirm our faith in their timeless validity.

Pakistan will continue to extend its support and cooperation

to the collective efforts of the world for peace.

After exactly 50 years, retrospection evokes mixed

feelings. Yet members of our Organization have much to

celebrate. The decolonization process, the elimination of

apartheid, humanitarian assistance and handling of refugee

situations are some of the areas where the United Nations

can be proud of its achievements. But much remains to be

done.

The end of the cold war provided a historic

opportunity to build a new edifice of peace and prosperity:

a system in which international relations would be

conducted in a spirit of justice, equality and democracy;

where poverty would cease to exist, through international

cooperation for development; where human rights,

especially the right to self-determination, would be

promoted and protected; and where aggression would be

effectively and collectively challenged wherever and

whenever it occurred.

Regrettably, this has not happened. Now, more than

ever, it seems that the powerful countries are imposing their

will on the United Nations. The decisions and the

resolutions adopted by it reflect the interests of a few rather

than the good of all. The provisions of collective security

are being invoked selectively. Human rights standards are

being defended more vociferously in some situations than

in others. While in some cases aggression has been

forcefully and decisively resisted, in others it has remained

unchecked and even rewarded.

Jammu and Kashmir is a case in question, where the

Muslim majority continue to be denied their right to self-

determination promised to them by Security Council

resolutions. These resolutions remain unimplemented. The

denial of the right to self-determination led to a massive

uprising in the Indian-occupied Kashmir in 1989. Demand

for the exercise of this fundamental right was met with a

brutal reign of terror unleashed by the Indian occupation

forces. It continues unabated and is being pursued with

malicious intensity, with devastating consequences for the

civilian population of this internationally recognized

disputed territory. In Kashmir the principles of the United

Nations Charter, international law and international morality

have been violated with impunity. The massive and

widespread human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir

have been graphically documented by a large number of

international human rights organizations.

Since I stood at this rostrum a year ago, tensions

have further escalated in South Asia. One billion people

of South Asia are holding their breath as threats of war

keep emanating from the leaders in New Delhi.

Jammu and Kashmir continues to burn. The sons and

daughters of Kashmir continue to be killed, maimed,

executed, tortured and dishonoured. Will the new year of

the United Nations bring an end to the rape of Kashmir?

Will the beginning of the next half century of the United

Nations see the implementation of its resolutions on

Kashmir?

The Jammu and Kashmir dispute was not brought to

the Security Council by Pakistan. It was India which

moved this dispute before the United Nations. The people

of Kashmir are looking to this body to deliver them their

right to self-determination, as promised to them by this

body, by the international community and by India and

Pakistan.

Since I stood before the Assembly a year ago,

hundreds of Kashmiris have been killed by the Indian

forces. Holy places of the Muslims have been razed to the

ground by the Indian occupation forces. The holiest of the

holy shrines, Charar-e-Sharif, was burned to ashes. The

city of Charar-e-Sharif was torched. Is it not ironical that

the great Sufi saint, Noor-ud-Din Wali, buried in the

shrine there was a man who preached love and tolerance

five centuries ago to all humanity, and not just to

Muslims? Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Sikhs also

seek spiritual solace at his grave. The disdainful act of

desecration of this symbol of peace and harmony by the

Indian forces has not extinguished the spirit of freedom in

Kashmir.

The occupation forces, now numbering more than

600,000, use torture, killings and brutality against the

people, against its leaders, and even against innocent

journalists. The people of Kashmir were outraged at the

killing of a journalist, Mushtaq Ali, in the bomb blast at

the BBC office in Srinagar. The whole of Kashmir went

into deep mourning at this wanton killing. But India

refuses to look truth in the face.

The people of Kashmir and Pakistan are deeply

shocked at the killing of the Norwegian tourist by the

kidnappers of the Al-Faran Group. We join our Kashmiri

brothers in condemning this horrible act against an

innocent tourist, and we demand the release of the

remaining four tourists. We have extended every possible

cooperation to countries whose citizens’ lives are still in

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danger, but we have a right to ask: Who are Al-Faran?

Nobody seems to have heard of this group ever before.

There is too much circumstantial evidence which points an

accusing finger at New Delhi. We do not want rhetoric; we

do not want to score points. We want the safety and the

freedom of these innocent tourists. Pakistan calls for an

independent and impartial inquiry into the hostage-taking by

Al-Faran, under the auspices of the United Nations, so that

those responsible for this act can be brought to justice.

India continues to harp on the issue of elections in

Jammu and Kashmir. Let it ask the All Parties Hurriyet

Conference, the representative party of all Kashmiri

organizations in Jammu and Kashmir and the sole voice of

the Kashmiri people, whether they want elections, or a

plebiscite and the implementation of the Security Council

resolutions.

Kashmir is an international dispute. India cannot

internalize it behind the garb of bilateralism. If this “non-

principle” was allowed to prevail as the basis for the

settlement of disputes, then there would be no international

morality left. There would be no international order, and

the world community could say farewell to peace. It would

become the law of the jungle.

In the meantime, along the Line of Control in Kashmir

our people are being killed daily and injured by cross-

border firing and rocketing. Access to over 80,000 of our

people in the Neelam Valley has been cut off by daily

Indian firing.

India claims that Pakistani militants cross into

Kashmir. In good faith and in order to ascertain the veracity

of the Indian allegations, I wrote to the President of the

Security Council last year asking for the expansion of the

United Nations Military Observer Group in India and

Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on both sides of the Line of Control.

India’s response to this constructive proposal was a firm

“No”. Instead, it deployed 800 troops per kilometre and

built three Security Zones along the Line of Control. I ask:

Can there be cross-border violations after such heavy

fortifications? By what logic can they reject our proposal

for increasing United Nations observers? The answer is

obvious. They want merely to score points in international

forums. They want to build an argument against Pakistan.

They want to convince the world that it is not the Kashmiri

people who are alienated from India, but Pakistan that is

turning a blind eye to militants crossing the Line of Control

from our side.

I ask you to ponder this Indian posture. In history

this has always been the language of the aggressor, of

those who want to maintain the status quo. I cannot

believe that Indian authorities are so naive as to believe

that the Kashmiri uprising is foreign- inspired. Other

Powers have also made such mistakes in the past, much

to their dismay and ultimate discomfiture. India must

learn from history. The march of history has never been,

and never will be, altered by a systematic falsification of

facts or a string of blatant lies. The people of Kashmir

have rejected the Indian occupation. No amount of

repression, no amount of killings, gang-rapes, torture or

mining of villages will deter the people of Jammu and

Kashmir from winning their right to self-determination.

This truth is being lost on New Delhi. For our part,

we are prepared for dialogue. We are prepared for

mediation by the Secretary-General or by the President of

the Assembly, or by any peace-loving country under any

modality, under any arrangement.

We are prepared for peace. We want conflict

resolution. We want talks but the talks must be on the

substantive issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Talks must aim

at achieving settlement. Talks must be on the basis of a

structured agenda. Once the issue of Jammu and Kashmir

is resolved, it will open the door for a solution to all

other Indo-Pakistan disputes. But our offers of talks have

fallen on deaf ears. India now hides behind a new

subterfuge that talks should be unconditional, that talks

must be without an agenda. We cannot accept this

because during the last 23 years under the Simla

Agreement, the two Foreign Secretaries met seven times

without any result. Every time a meeting takes place the

Indian side states that Kashmir is an integral part of India

and not an international dispute. This is a negation of the

United Nations Security Council resolutions. This is a

negation of the Simla Agreement, and I quote article 6 of

the Simla Agreement, which states,

“Both Governments agree ... to discuss further the

modalities and arrangements for the establishment of

durable peace and of normalization of relations”,

including

“a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir”.

The Simla Agreement is fully within the framework of

the United Nations Charter.

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Then we are told that the Security Council resolutions

are outdated. What will the world look like if countries

were allowed unilaterally to reject United Nations

resolutions, and if this deviationist stance were to become

a universal principle of international morality? Can morality

become outdated? Can evil become good with time?

Instead, India has gone on to a feverish arms race.

When they exploded their nuclear bomb in 1974, we told

them not to push South Asia into a nuclear arms race. But

our warnings were not heeded and now, along with its

massive blue-water navy, which threatens the shores of

Africa and Asia, they have launched into an arms race in

South Asia. Their Prithvi missiles are Pakistan-specific. The

Prithvi missile is a tension multiplier: it gives Pakistan only

three minutes’ response time.

What are they arming themselves for? Who threatens

them in Asia? Their leaders talk of extending the Indian

military and naval might to the shores of the Indian Ocean.

In this day and age this approach is downright

anachronistic.

During the Eighth Summit of the South Asian

Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was

held in New Delhi in May this year, President Leghari

urged Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and the Indian

leadership not to take this fateful step. He urged the Indian

leadership to come to the table and solve the core Kashmir

dispute. He also warned that if India continued with this

feverish race for arms, and now for missiles, then Pakistan

would have no choice but to rethink its options within the

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

Having fought three wars to defend its territory, the

people of Pakistan feel threatened. That is why peace is

important. That is why peace is vital for Pakistan. But I

want to make it absolutely clear — and let there be no

doubt about it in anyone’s mind — that the people of

Pakistan have the will to survive, and survive they will with

dignity and honour.

One fifth of humanity, a billion people, live in the

seven countries of South Asia. The world is passing us by.

Our people are trapped in poverty, in hunger, in disease and

unemployment. Don’t our people deserve better? Don’t they

deserve a chance? Don’t six countries have a right to live

in peace in South Asia? It is our earnest hope that those in

New Delhi who threaten war should look at the state of

poverty of their own people. We hope that they have the

political will to ensure the peaceful settlement of disputes,

and there will be many peace dividends if peace comes to

South Asia.

Peace will be worth their while. Trade will flourish,

mega- projects in the Gulf, from Iran and from Central

Asia will bring prosperity to our peoples. I hope that

better counsel will prevail in New Delhi and I hope there

are still men of peace and vision left in India who will

not be the prisoners of the acrimonies of history but will

look to the future of a billion people.

The Secretary-General, in his 1995 report on the

work of the Organization (A/50/1), has recognized the

aggravation of relations between India and Pakistan as a

result of increasing incidents of violence in Jammu and

Kashmir. We would like, in particular, to facilitate the

search for a lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute. We

hope that India will also accept the United Nations

Secretary-General’s offer of good offices, as Pakistan has

done. We also sincerely hope that the United Nations

General Assembly will use its authority to exert pressure

on India to stop immediately the brutal violations of

human rights and to implement the Security Council

resolutions which ask for the holding of a plebiscite in

Jammu and Kashmir.

What has been happening in Bosnia and

Herzegovina for the past few years is a monumental

tragedy. The world has witnessed a Member State of the

United Nations being made victim of brutal aggression

and its people subjected to atrocities, massive violations

of human rights, ethnic cleansing and the abhorrent

practice of genocide — acts which would put the horrors

of the Second World War to shame. The killing fields of

Srebrenica and Zepa are sadly reminiscent of Auschwitz

and Buchenwald. Yet the international response has been

totally inadequate and has often come too late. The

Bosnian Muslims were left to defend themselves against

a vastly superior military machine, their hands tied by an

unjustified arms embargo.

Pakistan strongly reiterates its firm support for the

demand by the Bosnian people for the lifting of the arms

embargo. For its part, Pakistan remains strongly

committed to offering every possible assistance to the

people and Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We

must seek credible international guarantees for the

preservation of the unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia

and Herzegovina.

If one step is taken towards peace, the world of

Islam is prepared to take two steps more. We have taken

20

note of the action taken by the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) countries and of the establishment of

the rapid reaction force. We urge the NATO countries not

to relent on the air strikes until the Serbian aggressors and

delinquents are made to pay a price for their deeds and to

act like civilized people. Unless peace is fully restored and

a just and equitable settlement is in place, the OIC will

reserve its right to challenge the illegal United Nations arms

embargo on the Bosnian people.

We fully support the Croatian efforts to recover

Krajina and their other territories from Serbian military

occupation. We demand that in the settlement Srebrenica

and Zepa be restored to their original United Nations-

designated safe-area status. We also demand that Kosovo

and Sanjak be protected from Serbian “ethnic cleansing”.

The Declaration of Principles signed recently in Geneva is

something we consider well-begun but only half-done.

There are many pitfalls, and we see many dangers in the

implementation of the Declaration of Principles. A lot more

vision and courage on the part of the world community will

be required if the entire peace plan is to be fully

implemented. We hope that the United Nations, the

European Union and NATO will demonstrate the courage

required to resolve the crisis in the Balkans.

The situation in Afghanistan makes us very sad. The

people of Afghanistan wait in anguish for peace to return

to their tortured land. There appears to be no end to the

fighting between the various groups. One and a half million

Afghans are still in my country. They too, like us, look to

the United Nations and to the OIC to bring peace to their

land.

I should like to state here unequivocally, and with all

the responsibility at our command, that in no way have we

interfered in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. We would

also urge that no other country do so. We would urge other

States not to increase the suffering of the Afghan people by

supporting one group or the other. We should all support

United Nations Special Representative Mahmoud Mestiri’s

mission to bring peace to Afghanistan, a peace based on

accommodation for all factions and all groups. This peace

can be achieved only through mutual accommodation and

national reconciliation. In the last 18 months, our Mission

has twice been subjected to mob attacks. In the second one,

26 of our officials were injured, including Ambassador Qazi

Humayun, and one staffer was killed. This is most

unfortunate. We hope that the sanctity of the Mission will

be respected and that the Vienna Conventions will be

honoured.

For over a decade, Pakistan supported the legitimate

struggle of our Afghan brothers against foreign

intervention. Once this intervention was ended, Pakistan

promoted accords among the Afghan parties and factions

for a peaceful transition from war to peace. It was as a

consequence of the compromise achieved in the

Islamabad accord of May 1992 that President Rabbani

took office. His Government was to be a transitional one

and was to prepare for a broad-based and popular

government representing all regions and political forces in

Afghanistan. Unfortunately, as the Secretary- General’s

Special Representative, Mr. Mestiri, has clearly stated, the

regime in Kabul did not allow the promised transition to

a representative government to take place.

In large measure because of this refusal to live up to

solemn agreements, fighting in Afghanistan has been

endemic during the past few years. The fortunes of war

recently turned against President Rabbani’s regime

because it became increasingly unpopular with the Afghan

people. A regime in Kabul whose de facto legitimacy we

have not questioned, a regime in Kabul that today

controls only 5 of about 32 provinces in Afghanistan: this

regime has tested our patience again and again.

This regime chooses to punish unarmed and innocent

staffers and the Ambassador. It chooses to burn down our

Embassy and its premises. But this has not made

Pakistanis angry at the Afghan nation. It has merely made

us sad, because this regime has forgotten the 14 years of

the support given and the sacrifices made by the people

of Pakistan for their freedom. Instead, it chooses to please

those who destroyed their country, who killed and

maimed millions of Afghan men, women and children,

who destroyed houses, who destroyed people’s lives, who

planted millions of land-mines across the country — a

large number of which have yet to be removed. By these

wanton acts, which go against the Vienna Conventions,

the Kabul regime wants to win the favour of those who

seek to fish in the troubled waters of Afghanistan.

The Kabul regime seeks to survive with the help of

military support from the enemies of the Afghan nation,

while it rules through a minority. It seeks to conquer

Afghanistan through military force. This is against

history. This will not happen. The regime is forgetting the

code of honour of the Afghan nation. While we in

Pakistan are sad at what has happened to our countrymen

in Kabul, the chivalrous Afghan people are angered and

incensed. We take no responsibility for what the Afghan

people will do to vindicate their honour. They know that

there never was, and never will be, interference from

21

Pakistan. The world knows that a faltering regime always

wants to lay its follies and its internal defeats at the

doorsteps of others, and for this the Afghan nation will

demand, and get, retribution.

However, this provocation will not deter us from our

steadfast path of neutrality towards the Afghan people and

the unity of Afghanistan or from non-interference in

Afghanistan’s internal affairs or our abiding friendship and

brotherhood with the Afghan nation. In the meantime, we

would like to assure the people of Afghanistan that we shall

stand by them in their hour of trial. We shall not abandon

them.

Pakistan was closely associated with the third round of

United Nations-sponsored inter-Tajik talks. While I pay

tribute to the United Nations Special Representative,

Ambassador Píriz-Ballón, for his statesmanship, which led

to the main elements for peace in Tajikistan, let me add

that our role too was to bring about national reconciliation

in that country. We shall continue to cooperate with the

United Nations to bring about complete peace in our

friendly neighbour Tajikistan.

The events in Azerbaijan, too, are a matter of deep

concern to us. We fully support the efforts of President

Gaider Aliyev for an equitable settlement of the Nagorny-

Karabakh dispute; a settlement which is based on the

removal of aggression against Azerbaijan.

We fully support the Middle East peace process. We

hope that the Palestine Liberation Organization-Israeli

accord is implemented in letter and spirit without any

recourse to delay by Israel. We have supported the Jordan-

Israeli peace accord and favour a negotiated settlement of

related issues, especially the Golan Heights, southern

Lebanon and Jerusalem.

Pakistan continues to be deeply concerned over the

situation in Somalia. The United Nations, along with the

Organization of African Unity, the Arab League and the

Organization of Islamic Conference must endeavour to

promote an early political solution in that country and its

eventual reconstruction.

In other areas which impinge on the peace and

stability of the world can be seen the lack of progress in

the field of disarmament of weapons of mass destruction,

particularly in the field of nuclear weapons.

The end of the bipolar world based on hostile camps

has removed the impediments to pursuing the goal of

nuclear disarmament. Yet the goal remains elusive. It is

incomprehensible why commitments cannot be translated

into reality. The agreements reached on the reduction of

strategic arms still fall far short of the expectations raised

by the end of the cold war. The world should resolve to

remove the scourge of nuclear weapons from the face of

this earth.

Until nuclear disarmament is realized, the nuclear-

weapon States should give unconditional security

assurances to the non-nuclear-weapon States. In this

context, the Conference on Disarmament should establish

an ad hoc committee right at the beginning of 1996 to

negotiate a legally binding convention on security

assurances. The Conference on Disarmament should also

continue its work on a comprehensive test-ban treaty for

its early conclusion.

Parallel to all these global efforts, regional avenues

should be promoted for nuclear non-proliferation. The

concept of nuclear-weapon-free zones is finally being

translated into reality in different parts of the world.

Unfortunately, the proposal Pakistan made 20 years ago

to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in South Asia has

not even taken off because of the negative attitude of

certain States in the region. Nevertheless, Pakistan has

continued to advocate efforts to eliminate the dangers of

proliferation from South Asia. To that end, we have made

several suggestions. Regrettably, they have not evoked a

positive response from India.

Pakistan has also proposed conventional

disarmament at the regional and subregional levels. We

hope that the Conference on Disarmament will deliberate

upon this approach and evolve guidelines to bring at par

the weaponry and forces of the regional States.

In our view, the emerging role of the United Nations

as a peace maker and a peace-keeper would greatly help

in achieving peace and harmony at the regional as well as

the global levels. We believe that preventive diplomacy is

the cornerstone of United Nations peace efforts. Pakistan

has been actively cooperating and participating in a major

way in United Nations peace-keeping efforts. It is a

matter of immense satisfaction that today Pakistan is the

third largest troop-contributing country to United Nations

peace-keeping operations.

Pakistan believes that certain operational realities

must be justified for the success of such operations. We

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need a clear commitment from the international community,

accompanied by a clear political direction and a unified

command structure.

In order to ensure better and effective implementation

of Security Council resolutions, there is a need for thorough

consultations between the members of the Council, as well

as actual troop-contributing countries and the Secretariat, at

all stages of any peace-keeping operation.

As we enter the new millennium, our collective

objective should be to maximize economic growth leading

towards the ultimate objective of human development. To

promote peace and prosperity, it is essential to facilitate

rather than restrain the application of modern technology

for economic and social development.

Adequate official resources should be channelled to

those developing countries which are implementing far-

reaching economic reforms and liberalization measures. A

net flow of official assistance should be directed in

particular towards the eradication of poverty, human and

social development programmes and sustainable growth in

the developing countries. This is particularly true of Africa,

a continent which has been largely bypassed by the

economics of the twentieth century. For our part, Pakistan

extends full support to the United Nations development

assistance plans for Africa and for the Sahel.

Pakistan is encouraged by the conclusion of the

Uruguay Round, despite the partial and unequal response to

the trade interests of the developing countries. The global

economy is finally coming out of recession. New growth is

likely to be generated mostly in the developing countries,

whose integration into the world’s financial and trading

system can immensely contribute towards global output.

There is, therefore, a unique opportunity to create a just,

fair, equitable and non-discriminatory global economy.

Free markets and open economies do not imply a

disregard for the plight of the poor and the disadvantaged.

This principle must be applied as much among nations as

within nations. The aim must be to improve living

conditions for all within a dynamic economic framework.

Pakistan welcomes the constructive outcome of the recently

held Conference on Population and Development, the

World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth

World Conference on Women.

We in Pakistan are particularly aware of the need to

address the problems of the deprived segments of our

society. Development initiatives, such as the Social Action

Programme, are being formulated within the constitutional

framework. Our Constitution contains a number of articles

related to social integration with particular reference to

women and children and religious and ethnic minorities,

as well as those living in poverty. Special efforts are

being made to ensure the full participation of women in

nation building. Pakistan’s approach to employment and

poverty eradication combines policies for national growth,

employment and price stabilization with programmes that

target the poor and the vulnerable.

Pakistan would like to reiterate the importance it has

always attached to the reform of the United Nations.

Pakistan supports the reaffirmation made by the Non-

Aligned Movement that both the reform and expansion

aspects of the Security Council should take into account

the principles of the sovereign equality of States and

equitable geographical distribution, as well as the need for

transparency, accountability and democratization in the

working methods and procedures of the Security Council.

Pakistan remains strongly opposed to centres of privilege

within the United Nations system. These are

anachronistic, anti-democratic and contrary to the

principle of sovereign equality.

In conclusion, the challenges that Member States of

the United Nations confront are indeed forbidding. Yet

the opportunities for genuine peace and universal

prosperity are most promising. With good will and

cooperation, all Member States can make significant

progress at this historic session towards the vision of

peace, progress and human solidarity envisaged in the

Charter of the United Nations. This is an extraordinary

moment of opportunity. The decisions we take today will

determine whether the new era will be one of hope and

prosperity or one of despair and deprivation. The choices

to build a peaceful world are therefore entirely in our own

hands.