Pakistan, 2001

I would like to

extend to you, Mr. President, my felicitations on your

election. I also wish to congratulate your predecessor,

Mr. Harri Holkeri, for his stewardship of the

millennium session of the General Assembly. Deep

appreciation is also due to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, for his untiring efforts to translate the

vision of the Millennium Declaration into policies and

actions by the world community.

Mr. Secretary-General, please also accept my

heartiest congratulations on the award of the centenary

Nobel Peace Prize conferred upon you and your

Organization, and on your election for a second term to

your prestigious office.

Last year, at the Millennium Summit, all of us

were looking forward to a renaissance in the new

millennium — a renaissance in the hearts and minds of

people, for a better world where peace and justice

would prevail. Unfortunately, today we gather against

the sombre backdrop of the terrorist outrage that the

world witnessed in shock and horror on that fateful day

of 11 September. In seconds, images of fire and death

reached all of us around the globe. Thousands of

innocent lives were lost in minutes. Eighty or more

nations lost some of their brightest and their best.

Pakistan, like the rest of the world, mourned the

colossal loss of innocent lives. The map of the world

changed, and the entire globe descended into a deep

crisis. At a time of such great turmoil, when there is a

need for clear thought and firm action, I come from

Pakistan with a message of determination and resolve

as well as a message of peace for all peoples.

The General Assembly meets this year under the

shadow of a horrendous act of terror perpetrated

against the people of the United States — an act for

which no grievance or cause can ever be a justification,

an act that must be condemned unambiguously and in

the strongest words. This was an attack on humanity

itself and we all must therefore unite to fight this

scourge. Pakistan has followed words with actions.

Now that the world has committed itself to fight

against terrorism, it is time for introspection. In this

dark hour, we owe it to posterity to shed light on some

dangerous and growing trends, misconceptions and

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misperceptions which, if not countered, may lead the

world into even greater disorder and disharmony.

Muslims in various parts of the world, and the

religion of Islam itself, are being held responsible for

the trials the world is facing. This point of view is

totally misplaced. Just as all religions teach peace and

love for fellow beings, so Islam places upon its

adherents the obligation to do good, to be generous,

merciful, kind and just to all fellow beings. The

Muslim greeting “Assalam alaikum”, meaning “Peace

be with you”, symbolizes the very essence of the

Islamic faith. Islam is a religion of peace, compassion

and tolerance.

Terrorism is not a Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or

Muslim belief. It is to be condemned no matter who the

perpetrator, be it an individual, a group or a state.

We need to ask ourselves what really causes these

extreme acts around the world. To my mind, it is

unresolved political disputes: disputes in Bosnia,

Kosovo, Palestine, Kashmir and other places.

Unfortunately, all these disputes involve Muslims and,

what is more sad, Muslims happen to be the victims in

all of them. This fact tends to give a religious tinge to

these otherwise political disputes. The lack of progress

in resolving them has created in Muslims a sense of

deprivation, hopelessness and powerlessness.

The frustration grows even worse when disputes

like those relating to Kashmir and Palestine, which

have been the subject of Security Council resolutions,

remain unsettled. The question then becomes, are the

people asking for their rights in accordance with

United Nations resolutions to be called terrorists, or are

the countries refusing to implement United Nations

resolutions perpetrators of State terrorism? In Kashmir,

Indian occupation forces have killed over 75,000

Kashmiris, attributing these killings to foreign

terrorists. It is time that India stopped such deceit.

United Nations Security Council resolutions on

Kashmir must be implemented.

Media images of the Palestinian child,

Mohammed Al-Durra, were etched into the hearts and

minds of people all over the world. It is perverse to

regard the rape of Kashmiri women as a punishment

inflicted in the course of war. The images of those

moments when the World Trade Centre towers came

down will remain definitive for all the agony, disbelief

and loss that people suffer from acts of terror all over

the world. All forms of terror must be condemned,

prevented and fought against, but in condemning them

the world must not trample upon the genuine rights,

aspirations and urges of the people who are fighting for

their liberation and are subjected to State terrorism.

To fight the extremist, deprive him of his

motivation. The extremist survives in an environment

where millions suffer injustice and indignity. Deprive

him of his support by giving all the peoples of the

world peace, security, justice and dignity, regardless of

faith, religion or creed.

A just and honourable solution for the people of

Kashmir and an end to the miseries of the people of

Palestine are the major burning issues that have to be

addressed vigorously, boldly, imaginatively and

urgently. We must get to the root causes; cosmetic

solutions will only make matters worse. Consider the

analogy of a tree: terrorists are like so many leaves —

take out some, and there will be plenty more, an

unending growth. Terrorist networks are branches:

prune a few, and there will be others, and further

growth. The only way to do deal with them is to go for

the roots. Eliminate the roots, and there will be no tree.

The roots are the causes, which need to be addressed,

tackled and eliminated, fairly, justly and honourably, so

as to give people back their dignity, self-respect and

honour.

In essence, therefore, to tackle the issue of

terrorism in its entirety, we need to follow a

three-pronged strategy of going for individual

terrorists; moving against terrorist organizations; and

addressing disputes throughout the world in a just

manner.

After the events of 11 September, Pakistan took a

deliberate, principled decision to join the world

coalition in its fight against terrorism. This decision

has catapulted us, once again, into the position of being

a front-line State in the battle against terrorism. While

the people of Pakistan have accepted this new reality,

they still suffer from a sense of betrayal and

abandonment as a result of being left in the lurch in

1989 after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Then, too, we were a front-line State — and what we

got in return was 3 million refugees, a shattered

economy, drugs and a Kalashnikov culture, to be dealt

with single-handedly and through our own limited

resources. Pakistan only hopes that the mistakes of the

past will not be repeated and that Pakistan’s legitimate

concerns will be addressed. Our economy again faces a

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crisis from the fallout from the operations in

Afghanistan. We need financial and commercial

support on an urgent basis, and hope that this will be

forthcoming.

After the events of 11 September, and after

Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda became an

international issue, Pakistan tried its utmost, up to the

last moment, to work with the Afghan Government so

as to avert military action in Afghanistan. Regrettably,

we did not meet with success, and the coalition

operation against terrorists in Afghanistan continues,

with no immediate end in sight. Sadly, the civilian

casualties resulting from this action are increasingly

depicted as an open war against the already poor,

suffering and innocent people of Afghanistan. The

world in general, and Pakistan in particular, mourn the

loss of these innocent lives, and sympathize with the

bereaved. It is desirable that the military operation be

as short and as accurately targeted as possible. It is also

essential that a fall-back political strategy be evolved

which could attain the same objectives as those being

sought through military application.

In its entirety, dealing with Afghanistan involves

a three-pronged strategy to address military, political

and humanitarian-cum-rehabilitation issues. It must

remain the effort of the coalition, after achieving its

military objectives, to prevent a vacuum leading to

anarchy, through the immediate application of joint

political and rehabilitation strategies.

In our view, the political set-up in Afghanistan

must be home-grown and not imposed — and I say that

having knowledge of the Afghan psyche. We must

ensure the unity and territorial integrity of Afghanistan,

within a broad-based, multi-ethnic dispensation,

representative of the demographic composition of the

country.

The people of Afghanistan have been suffering

the ravages and devastation of conflict for over two

decades. It is the moral obligation of the world

community to support them generously. Assistance to

Afghanistan should be in two forms: first, ongoing

humanitarian assistance; and secondly, post-military

operations, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

To offset the ill-effects of the ongoing military

operation, it is imperative that we launch a more

coordinated and concerted humanitarian relief effort

inside and outside Afghanistan, with more generous

funding. This will go a long way to alleviating the

sufferings of the common Afghan.

It is equally important that we, concurrently,

formulate a post-operation rehabilitation programme

for when peace returns to Afghanistan. This effort

would entail, at the minimum, the restoration of water-

management systems; the revival of agriculture through

land development; the reconstruction of the physical

infrastructure — roads, buildings and utilities; and the

establishment of institutions.

A stable and peaceful Afghanistan is in the vital

interests of the region and, in particular, of Pakistan.

Conditions must be created for the more than 3 million

refugees in Pakistan to return to their country. We

propose the establishment of an “Afghan trust fund”,

under United Nations auspices, for the rehabilitation

and reconstruction effort.

I would now like to focus on the harsh realities in

the developing countries, which have a relationship

with extremism of all kinds. Poverty and deprivation

lead to frustration, making the masses vulnerable to

exploitation by extremist organizations. It is the

collective moral responsibility of the developed world

to address this issue squarely, through substantive

economic uplift, poverty alleviation and social action

programmes in the developing countries. Economic

imbalances have to be removed in order to achieve a

just, equitable and harmonious world order. A major

step in this direction would be to reduce, if not

eliminate, the debt burden, which hangs like a

millstone around the necks of the poor and the

underdeveloped.

The bigger tragedy of the third world is that their

rulers, together with their minions, plunder their

countries’ wealth and are afforded easy access to safe

havens to stash away the loot in the first world.

Restrictions have long been imposed on the laundering

of drug money, and the money supply for terrorists is

being choked off. Why can similar restrictions not be

imposed on the money-laundering of loot?

I appeal, through this forum, to all of the

developed countries to legislate against deposits of ill-

gotten money, to assist in investigating the looters and

to ensure the early return of the plundered wealth to its

countries of origin. In fact, I would not be far off the

mark if I were to state that, with the return of this

looted money, many of the developing countries might

4

be able to pay back their debts and revive their

economies.

Pakistan is deeply conscious of the nuclear

dimension of the security environment of our region,

the danger it poses and the responsibility it places on

nuclear-weapon States, particularly the two nuclear

States in South Asia. We are ready to discuss how

Pakistan and India can create a stable South Asian

security mechanism through the peaceful resolution of

disputes, the preservation of the nuclear and

conventional balance, confidence-building measures

and the non-use of force, as prescribed by the United

Nations Charter. In this context, we are ready to

discuss nuclear and missile restraints, as well as

nuclear risk-reduction measures, with India, in a

structured, comprehensive and integrated dialogue.

Pakistan is fully aware of the responsibilities of

its nuclear status. We have declared a unilateral

moratorium on nuclear testing. Pakistan was not the

first to initiate nuclear tests and will not be the first to

resume them. We are ready to formalize a bilateral

treaty with India for a mutual test ban. We have

strengthened our export controls and have established

multi-layered custodial controls on all our nuclear

assets. Let me assure the Assembly that our strategic

assets are very well guarded and in very safe hands. We

are constantly upgrading our command and control

measures, and we have instituted an elaborate nuclear

command and control mechanism for ironclad custodial

controls to ensure the safety and security of all our

assets. Pakistan is opposed to an arms race in South

Asia, be it nuclear or conventional. We will maintain

deterrence at the minimum level. We want to live in the

region with honour and with dignity.

I would now like to very briefly cover internal

developments in Pakistan. Over the past two years, the

focus has been on economic revival, poverty

alleviation, the improvement of governance in

Pakistan, political restructuring and the introduction of

genuine democracy in the country. We have

successfully put in place a sound democratic structure

that is based on empowerment of the people at the

grassroots level. A revolutionary step has been taken

through the provision of one third of the seats to

women on the district-level governing councils.

I want to put on record at this gathering that

Pakistan is proud of this representation and

empowerment of women, which is a unique feature in

the world. Our resolve to hold elections to the

Provincial and National Assemblies and to the Senate

in October 2002, in accordance with the road map I

announced last August, will remain unchanged in spite

of the prevailing environment in the region.

In conclusion, and in view of the fact that we are

going through a time of enormous trials and

tribulations, I wish to make an appeal — an appeal for

the sake of mankind, for the sake of our future

generations and for the sake of a better world.

Let justice prevail; let no people be wronged; let

suffering be eliminated; let discontent be addressed; let

humanity rise as one nation to eliminate subjugation of

the weak; and let there be peace.