Pakistan, 2012

Before I begin my statement,

I want to express the strongest condemnation of the

recent acts of incitement to hatred perpetrated against

the faith of the billions of Muslims around the world

and our beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon

him. Although we can never condone violence, the

international community must not remain a silent

observer and should criminalize such acts, which destroy

the peace of the world and endanger global security by

abusing the freedom of expression. Pakistan asks that

the United Nations immediately address this matter of

great alarm and concern and bridge the widening rift in

order to enable the comity of nations to be one again.

I would like to congratulate the President on

his election to his important post and to convey our

appreciation to the previous President, His Excellency

Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, from the brotherly

state of Qatar, who carried out his work with skill. I

would also like to express our appreciation for the

laudable work of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We

greatly appreciate his leadership in guiding the work

of the Organization. It is a special privilege to be at

the General Assembly today, representing the brave and

courageous people of Pakistan.

Globally, we face enormous challenges. But with

collective efforts and commitment we can provide our

people with a better future. We must work to end poverty.

We must work to protect the planet and mitigate climate

change. We must ensure that all people have equal

rights, and we must protect the weak and vulnerable.

We must pursue justice and fairness for all. We must

pursue the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

We must save our current and future generations from

the horrors of war. I think of my own children and the

generations of unborn children yet to come. They, and

all the children of the world, deserve safety, stability

and security. Those goals have guided me throughout

my four years in office as President of Pakistan. They

are the goals and principles about which I want to talk

today.

Pakistan’s engagement with the United Nations

lies at the heart of those goals. We are proud of going

above and beyond the call of duty in fulfilling our

international responsibilities. Pakistan has consistently

been among the top United Nations peacekeeping troop

contributors for many years. Today, more than 10,000

Pakistani troops proudly wear the Blue Helmet of the

United Nations in the service of our brothers and sisters

around the world.

Our election to the Security Council reflects

our commitment to world peace. It is also a vote of

confidence in Pakistan on the part of the international

community.The United Nations represents our common

aspirations for peace and development. However, it

needs reform. The United Nations system must become

more democratic and accountable, and reform should

be based on consensus and democratic principles.

In the last several years, Pakistan has repeatedly

suffered natural calamities. The people of Pakistan

appreciate the support of the United Nations and the

international community in that connection.

Being a democratic country, we believe that

the legitimate aspirations of any people should be

accommodated peacefully and in a manner consistent

with the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of

States. We support the rights of the Palestinian people

and an independent Palestinian State. We also favour

the admission of Palestine to full membership of the

United Nations.

There are many questions that are asked of

Pakistan these days. I am not here to answer questions

about Pakistan. The people of Pakistan have already

answered them. The politicians of Pakistan have

answered them. The soldiers of Pakistan have answered

them. We have lost more than 7,000 Pakistani soldiers

and policemen, and more than 37,000 civilians. We

have lost our Minister for Minority Affairs, Shahbaz

Bhatti, and my friend Salmaan Taseer, Governor of

Punjab, our most populous province, to the actions

of extremists. And I need not remind my friends here

today that I bear a personal scar. On 27 December 2007,

knowing that her life was under threat from the mindset

that she had warned the world against, Pakistan’s first

elected female leader, and my wife, Shaheed Mohtarma

Benazir Bhutto, was martyred by the bullets and bombs

of terrorists. Terrorism and extremism have destroyed

human lives, torn the social fabric and devastated the

economy. Our economy, our lives and our ability to live

in the shadow of our Sufi saints and our freedom-loving

forefathers have been challenged.

We have responded. Our soldiers have responded.

So I am not here to answer questions about Pakistan.

I am here to ask some questions on behalf of the

Pakistani people: on behalf of the two-year-old baby

who was killed in the bombing at Lahore’s Moon

Market on 7 December 2009; on behalf of Pervaiz

Masih, a Christian Pakistani who was killed with six

others while trying to protect Muslim Pakistanis during

a bomb attack on Islamic University in Islamabad on

20 October 2009; on behalf of Commandant Siffat

Gha-yoor of the Frontier Constabulary police force in

Peshawar, who was martyred by militants on 4 August

2010; on behalf of the traders and businessmen in

Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Karachi and in the

dozens of marketplaces that have been ravaged by

multiple bombings, over and over and over again; and,

perhaps most of all, on behalf of my three children,

whose mother, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, was

also martyred by terrorists.

For more than 30 years, our doors have been open

to our Afghan brothers and sisters.

For many years, we were left to fend for ourselves

and our Afghan guests.

I remember the red carpet that was rolled out for all

the dictators in our country — dictators who promised

the international community the moon — while Pakistan

was kept in the dark. Those dictators and their regimes

are responsible for suffocating and throttling Pakistan,

Pakistan’s institutions and Pakistan’s democracy. I

remember the judicial execution of Pakistan’s first

elected leader, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. I remember

the jailing of Pakistan’s elected leaders.

I remember the 12 years that I myself spent in

prison, and I remember the billions provided by the

international community to support those dictatorships.

My country’s social fabric and its very character have

been altered. Our condition today is a product of

dictatorship.

No country and no people has suffered more in the

epic struggle against terrorism than Pakistan. Drone

strikes and civilian casualties on our territory add to the

complexity of our battle for hearts and minds through

this epic struggle. To those who say that we have not

done enough, I say in all humility: please do not insult

the memory of our dead and the pain of our living. Do

not ask of my people what no one has ever asked of any

other people. Do not demonize the innocent women and

children of Pakistan, and please, stop this refrain to do

more. The simplest question of all is: how much more

suffering can Pakistan endure?

I am sure that the international community does not

want any suffering anywhere, least of all in Pakistan.

We believe, in fact, that the international community is

a partner. That is because it is in the common interest

of all nations to work together.

In Pakistan, I have helped bring about a major

strategic shift in how we view working together. Within

Pakistan, our democracy has brought about major

changes. God willing, this will be the first civilian

Government in Pakistan’s 66-year history to complete

its full five-year term.

In that time, Parliament has passed unprecedented

reforms. We have restored the consensus 1973

Constitution.

The National Assembly has enacted wide-ranging

social reforms. We have established a National

Commission on Women and a National Commission

on Human Rights. We have established, for the first

time, a truly independent election commission, to

ensure free, fair and transparent elections. Our media

is free, uncensored and thriving. Our civil society is

flourishing under the protection of democracy. We have

created the first social safety net, through the women of

Pakistan, for the weak and less privileged. Millions of

families have benefitted. We have aided the poor and at

the same time empowered the women of our households.

That safety net is called the Benazir Income Support

Programme. These are the gifts of democracy. This is

the dream of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

The growing regional pivot in Pakistan’s foreign

policy is a symbol of our democratic policy-making. In

engaging with our region, we are changing the future.

In China, our strategic partnership is growing from

strength to strength. In Afghanistan, we have begun to

engage and deepen our friendship with the entire range

of the Afghan political spectrum.

We believe that a sovereign, stable and secure

Afghanistan is good for the Afghan people, and what

is good for the Afghan people is good for Pakistan.

While our hearts and homes remain open to our

Afghan brothers, it is imperative that the international

community support the 3 million Afghan refugees in

Pakistan in their quest to return home with dignity. A

brighter Afghan future will be possible only when the

quest for peace is Afghan-owned, Afghan-driven and

Afghan-led.

We respect and support the efforts of the

Government of Afghanistan for reconciliation and

peace. Pakistan will support in every way possible any

process that reflects Afghan national consensus.

Similarly, we approach our relations with India

on the basis of mutual trust. The contacts between

our leadership are expanding. I was encouraged by

my discussions last month in Tehran with the Prime

Minister of India, whom I met with for the fifth time

in four years.

Our principled position on territorial disputes

remains the bedrock of our foreign policy. We will

continue to support the rights of the people of Jammu

and Kashmir to peacefully choose their destiny in

accordance with the Security Council’s long-standing

resolutions on this matter. Kashmir remains a symbol of the failures, rather than the strengths, of the United

Nations system. We feel that a resolution of these issues

can be arrived at only in an environment of cooperation.

By normalizing trade relations, we want to create

a regional South Asian narrative. Such a narrative will

provide an environment that will mutually benefit the

countries of our region.

Along this road, there are pitfalls. One of them

is the tendency to respond to failure through blame.

Pakistan does not blame others for the challenges it

faces. We believe that we should look for a win-win

solution. Regional cooperation and connectivity will

bring us closer and bind us together. It will make us

stakeholders in one another’s futures. Our hosting of a

quadrilateral summit next month and our signing of the

Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement are proof of

that commitment to regional connectivity.

In Pakistan, the lesson we learned from the last 30

years is that history cannot be changed, but the future

can — to a future that is brighter, more prosperous

and more secure, not only for Pakistanis but for all the

peoples of the region, and, indeed, the world.

I must thank the member States of the European

Union (EU) for recognizing the value of trade to

Pakistan. We seek trade, rather than aid. By granting

trade concessions to Pakistan, the EU has sent a

positive message. Those concessions will help us revive

the economy and fight terrorism.

As we embark on this ambitious transformative

experience, we are aware that there are threats and

pitfalls. One of them is the expanding illegal trade of

heroin. Despite the presence of international forces in

Afghanistan, the size of the heroin trade has increased

by 3,000 per cent in the last decade. The heroin industry

is eroding the social fabric of our society.

Terrorist activities within our region and, indeed,

all over the world are funded and fuelled by the

unrestricted production and sale of illegal drugs.

Pakistan has pursued an ambitious agenda to control

that menace. We are coordinating with our neighbours

and will hold a conference later this year to develop a

unified approach to stamping out the drug trade.

My call upon this body, and especially those nations

represented here that are actively engaged in the region,

is: here, today, let us begin to work together.

I have committed my presidency and my nation’s

future to a paradigm shift, a permanent democratic

future for Pakistan. It has not been easy, but nothing

worth fighting for is. We long ago stopped thinking

of doing what is easy. Instead, we have committed

ourselves to doing what is right. In that regard, I recall

the powerful words of my beloved martyred wife and

my leader, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, when

she appeared before this body 16 years ago.

Her words ring out and guide us into a new future.

She said in 1996,

“I dream of a third millennium in which the

gap between rich and poor evaporates; in which

illiteracy, hunger, malnutrition and disease are

at long last conquered; in which every child is

planned, wanted, nurtured and supported; and in

which the birth of a girl is welcomed with the same

joy as that of a boy. I dream of a millennium of

tolerance and pluralism, in which people respect other people, nations respect other nations, and

religions respect other religions.

“That is the third millennium I see for my

country and others”. (A/51/PV.20, p.4)

We have made some progress towards achieving

those goals. But so much remains to be done. In her

memory and in the name of God Almighty, Pakistan

commits to that path again today.

May peace be upon all countries and their people.