Pakistan, 1993

It is with great pleasure that

I extend to the President of the General Assembly the

felicitations of the Pakistan delegation on his election to

preside over the forty-eighth session. His diplomatic skills

and wide experience, particularly in the United Nations, will

be a valuable asset for the success of this important session

of the Assembly.

We express our appreciation and gratitude also to the

previous President, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, for his memorable

contribution in guiding the forty-seventh session of the

Assembly.

A special tribute is due to the Secretary-General of our

organization, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his dedication

and dynamism. We agree with the Secretary-General that

peace, development and democracy are interlinked and that

"Cooperative global integration is now an inescapable

fact and requirement for all the world’s peoples."

(A/48/1, para. 13)

Pakistan is happy to welcome the Czech Republic,

Slovakia, Eritrea, the former Yugoslav Republic of

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 13

Macedonia, the Principality of Monaco and the Principality

of Andorra as Members of our Organization. We look

forward to close cooperation with them in efforts to

accomplish the aims of the United Nations.

To that objective, and to the noble vision of the

Charter, Pakistan has been committed ever since its

independence. We have throughout sought to abide by its

principles, and we reaffirm our faith in their timeless

validity. As in the past, so also in the future Pakistan will

extend its wholehearted cooperation to all other States in

common efforts aimed at realizing the ideals that inspired

the establishment of the United Nations.

Nearly half a century later retrospection evokes mixed

feelings. The Organization’s failures and acts of omission

haunt and depress; yet Members of the United Nations have

much to celebrate. Some of the achievements during these

decades have been monumental.

Over 130 nations have emerged from the dark era of

colonialism and alien domination, each bringing its unique

genius to enrich world civilization, and to advance the cause

of human dignity.

The nightmare of a nuclear Armageddon has been

averted. Weapons of mass destruction are being reduced.

Ideological rivalry and confrontation have yielded to peace

and cooperation.

Democracy continues to triumph. People in large parts

of the world have achieved economic and social progress,

and better standards of living in peace and freedom.

In moments of optimism, we even perceive the glimmer

of a new dawn, of a more equitable and tranquil era, when

power will have been civilized, when differences and

disputes between States will be resolved, not through

aggression or intimidation, but by peaceful means on the

basis of law and justice, as they are between individuals.

That vision appears tantalizingly close, yet it eludes our

grasp. The world community’s progress towards peace and

prosperity is both slow and meandering. We have witnessed

many setbacks and reverses. At such times the vision of

peace seems to recede to the far horizon.

Respect for fundamental rights has been severely

undermined. Some States have exhibited blatant disregard

and contempt for international norms, allowing and even

encouraging their forces to perpetrate barbarous acts that

outrage the conscience of decent people.

Instead of civility and the practice of tolerance being

promoted, chauvinism and the evils of bigotry and hatred are

encouraged in some countries. The consequence has been

pogroms against minorities and destruction and desecration

of their places of worship.

The number of people in the world who have been

forced to flee their homes as refugees has risen to a record

level, straining the resources available for their relief.

The problem of poverty has intensified. A billion

people live in penury, without adequate food and shelter.

For them, life is short and brutish.

Manifestly, the United Nations has a long road to

travel, and many old and new obstacles to overcome, before

it fulfills the aims and purposes set for it in the Charter. But

even as we count the multifarious challenges, we can draw

some solace from recent successes.

A remarkable transition has taken place in Cambodia,

a transition in which the United Nations Transitional

Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) played a pivotal role. The

commendable contribution of the Secretary General’s Special

Representative, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, and his collaborators,

is a source of satisfaction for the Organization and its

members. Committed to the promotion of peace and

stability, Pakistan is happy to have provided 1,500 personnel

for UNTAC during the transition.

The Declaration of Principles signed by the Palestine

Liberation Organization and Israel is a positive development.

Implemented in good faith, it could go down in history as an

important first step towards peace and coexistence in the

Middle East. Vital to the realization of that aim will be

respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and

an equitable settlement of the outstanding issues. The status

of Al-Quds-el-Sharif remains a crucial issue of interest to us

in Pakistan and, indeed, to Muslims all over the world.

We hope that the Declaration, evolved with the

commendable contribution of Norway, and the agenda

agreed between Jordan and Israel will give a fillip to the

negotiations for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East,

for which Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and

338 (1973) provide an agreed and necessary basis.

14 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

In Afghanistan the accommodation achieved by the

mujahidin leaders, and the formation of a coalition

government, is reason for satisfaction. Consolidation of

peace will allow the Afghan people to enjoy the fruits of

their epic victory. Meanwhile, a programme for the

reconstruction of this war-ravaged country needs to be

launched immediately. By providing employment, it will

reinforce the peace process. Pakistan is prepared to join in

international efforts for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Assistance is needed also for the million and a half Afghan

refugees in Pakistan who are still unable to return to their

homeland, pending the creation of conducive economic and

political conditions.

The political evolution in South Africa holds the

welcome promise of peace and freedom for all its people.

They and the world at large applaud the valiant freedom

fighter and statesman, Nelson Mandela, for his sagacious

leadership. Pakistan will respond positively to his proposals

to bring South Africa back into the comity of nations. The

formation of a pluralist, democratic Government is in sight.

Pakistan looks forward to developing close and friendly

relations with the new South Africa.

In Somalia, too, notable progress has been made

towards the restoration of law and order and the

rehabilitation of its polity, though, regrettably, the process

has been slow and painful. We in Pakistan are deeply

grieved because our troops have suffered heavy casualties on

account of the misguided acts of a Somali faction. Yet

Pakistan will not abandon the United Nations Mission. Our

contingent will continue to hold high the United Nations

flag, assist relief operations and promote the re-establishment

of peace and harmony in Somalia, for whose people we

cherish abiding goodwill and fraternal affection.

We welcome the progress achieved in Mozambique,

Liberia and Rwanda, and hope that the relevant agreements

will be implemented in letter and in spirit. The unfortunate

developments in Angola must be reversed. We urge the

parties concerned to seek dialogue and national

reconciliation. The international community must assist

these countries in restoring peace and normalcy.

The optimism generated by the end of the cold war has

been blighted by the colossal tragedy in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. A member of the United Nations has been

carved up by the use of force and its people brutalized

through aggression and cold-blooded genocide. Crimes

against humanity have been perpetrated on a scale not seen

since the Holocaust. The conscience of mankind has been

outraged. Yet the community of States failed to act in

defence of a small State. It has succeeded, instead, in

denying the inherent right of a State to self-defence. Indeed,

some of the members of the Security Council even

obstructed moves to assist the victims of aggression and

slaughter, knowing full well that the perpetrators of

aggression were being aided and abetted by their ethnic

neighbours.

With their hands tied behind their backs, the Bosnians

have been forced to negotiate a so-called agreement. They

have been obliged to submit to a diktat in disregard of equity

and even the resolutions of the Security Council. A plan

that would reward aggression and legalize acquisition of

territory by force cannot, and should not, win the

approbation of the world community.

The General Assembly can still act, even at this

eleventh hour, to salvage the hope that has been invested by

the people of the world in the United Nations. Its voice

must rise in defence of law and justice, in order to preserve

the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina; to ensure an

equitable apportionment of territory among its different

ethnic components; to strengthen the United Nations force so

that it can keep and enforce the peace; to protect the safe

areas to provide relief against hunger and the rigour of the

approaching winter; and to punish those responsible for the

bestial crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Azerbaijan is yet another victim of aggression.

Armenians have occupied Azeri territory and expelled

hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. We call

for an end to this aggression and for the withdrawal of

Armenian forces. Also, the Azeri refugees need the

assistance of the world community for the relief of their

suffering.

The crisis in Kashmir calls for urgent action by the

United Nations. India has unleashed a brutal reign of terror

and repression in the occupied State in an unconscionable

attempt to bludgeon the Kashmiri people into submission and

to thwart their legitimate struggle for the realization of their

right to decide their own future. This is, of course, an

inherent right, but in the case of Kashmir it has been

specifically pledged to them by Pakistan, by India and by the

United Nations. It is sanctified in the resolutions of the

Security Council pertaining to Kashmir.

Internationally respected non-governmental human

rights organizations have graphically documented the brutal

crimes committed by the Indian occupation forces.

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 15

Since 1990 Amnesty International has been reporting on

the massive violations of human rights in Kashmir by Indian

forces, on the practice of arbitrary imprisonment, torture and

killings of Kashmiris in custody, and on the perpetration of

rape as a matter of policy.

"Rape is not uncommon and there is evidence of its

employment as an instrument of terror", says

P. M. Vandarajan, a University of Oxford lecturer, who

visited Kashmir in September 1992. In his report,

published by the International Federation of Human

Rights, Paris, the author recalls:

"The infamous mass rape by the Indian Army at

Kunan Poshpora was reported widely in the press, both

in India and abroad. It is, to date, the most sickening

example by far of the brutal excesses of the Security

Forces against the women of the region".

It is the most sickening, but it is by no means a solitary

incident.

Also catalogued in the report are cases of

"disappearances" of people, and of young men who "are

tortured in Kashmir every day", and of extra-judicial, or

illegal, executions, which "are alarmingly frequent".

The very titles of the reports issued by international

human rights organizations and by reputable journals depict

the grave conditions in Kashmir. Headlines and titles of

reports issued during 1993 include: "Heaven on Fire", a

report by Tim Gopsill on behalf of the British Parliamentary

Group; "India’s Shame", a London Sunday newspaper, 17

January 1993; "The crackdown in Kashmir - Torture of

Detainees and Assaults on the Medical Community", Asia

Watch and Physicians for Human Rights; "Extra-Judicial

Executions, Rape, Arbitrary Arrests, Disappearances and

other violations of Basic Human Rights by the Indian

Security Forces in Indian-administered Kashmir", a report by

the International Federation of Lawyers for Human Rights;

"Violations of human rights committed by the Indian

security forces in Jammu and Kashmir", by the same

Organization; "Rape in Kashmir: A Crime of War", by Asia

Watch and Physicians for Human Rights.

The report by Asia Watch, a division of Human Rights

Watch, New York and Washington, and Physicians for

Human Rights, Boston, released in June 1993, concludes:

"In their efforts to crush the militant separatist

movement in Kashmir, Indian government forces have

systematically violated international human rights and

humanitarian law. Among the worst of these violations

have been the summary executions of hundreds of

detainees in the custody of the security forces in

Kashmir. Such killings are carried out as a matter of

policy ...

"Methods of torture include severe beatings,

electric shock, suspension by the feet or hands,

stretching the legs apart, burning with heated objects,

sexual molestation and psychological deprivation and

humiliation. One common form of torture involves

crushing the leg muscles with a heavy wooden roller ...

Tens of thousands of Kashmiris have been killed by

Indian forces in the nearly four years since India began the

brutal repression in January 1990. Many more have been

maimed and incapacitated.

No statistics can illustrate the agony of a people or

portray their anguish and pain. But they do illustrate the

iron resolve of the people to recover their birthright. Now,

in the fourth year, the Kashmiri struggle continues to gather

internal strength. It has been established beyond doubt that

the Kashmiri people have not acquiesced and will not

acquiesce in Indian occupation. They have not accepted and

will not accept Indian rule.

India’s position on the Kashmir question, and its policy

in the occupied territory, constitute a fundamental defiance

of international law and morality. India claims that Jammu

and Kashmir is part of India; this claim is legally and

historically baseless. The future of the State remains to be

determined. The resolutions of the Security Council on this

question, providing for a plebiscite to decide the accession

of the State to India or Pakistan, have yet to be

implemented. A member of the United Nations cannot be

allowed to refuse to implement a resolution of the Security

Council. The resolutions in question were, moreover,

accepted by Pakistan as well as India. Law does not permit

a party to unilaterally renounce an international agreement.

The struggle of the Kashmiri people to recover their

freedom of choice is a righteous struggle for a fundamental

right. It merits the support of all members of the United

Nations. For Pakistan, a party to the dispute, such support

is a matter of duty as well as right. The Government and

people of Pakistan remain steadfast in their adherence to the

Security Council resolutions and in our strong support for

the Kashmiri right to self-determination. Pakistan calls upon

India to fulfil its obligations under law. We request all other

members of the United Nations to take appropriate action to

halt the Indian violations of human rights in Kashmir and to

16 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

ensure the implementation of the Security Council

resolutions.

Recent reports testify to an alarming escalation in

human rights abuses by the Indian forces in Kashmir. In

order to investigate this human rights emergency, we

addressed a letter to the President of the Security Council

last week and reiterated our suggestion that a fact-finding

mission be dispatched to Jammu and Kashmir. If India has

nothing to conceal, it should accept our suggestion.

Along with the resolution of conflicts, disarmament

offers a real option for States, large and small, to enhance

their security and expand the frontiers of regional and global

peace. The end of the cold war has removed the threat of

nuclear Armageddon. We welcome the agreements on the

reduction of strategic arms. Even so, thousands of nuclear

weapons will remain in the arsenals of the nuclear-weapon

States. We hope they will act to further reduce and

eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons. The Geneva

Conference on Disarmament should renew its work on a

programme for nuclear disarmament to be achieved within

a specific time-frame.

Until nuclear disarmament is realized, the non-nuclear-

weapon States have the right to be assured by the nuclear-

weapon States that there will be no use or threat of the use

of nuclear weapons. The disappearance of the rival military

blocs which relied on nuclear deterrence for security against

each other should make it possible for the nuclear Powers to

undertake not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons

against non-nuclear States.

For over 20 years Pakistan has advocated the

conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. We

are therefore happy that negotiations are to open in Geneva

for the conclusion of such a treaty. Pakistan will participate

actively in this endeavour. We have also consistently

supported a global ban on the production of fissile material

which should be realized on a non-discriminatory basis.

The regional approach has proved to be an effective

avenue to promote nuclear non-proliferation. The concept of

nuclear-weapon-free zones is finally being translated into

reality. The Latin American nuclear-weapon-free zone came

into force this year. Mutual arrangements for

non-proliferation have also been worked out by Brazil and

Argentina. The dramatic reversal in South Africa’s nuclear

weapons programme has created the conditions for

establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Africa. In the

Middle East, too, the progress towards peace may create

political momentum for non-proliferation.

Unfortunately, the hopes for non-proliferation in South

Asia received a serious setback when India exploded a

nuclear bomb in 1974. Nevertheless, Pakistan has continued

to advocate efforts to eliminate the danger of proliferation in

South Asia. To that end, we have put forward several

proposals. These include a South Asia nuclear-weapon-free

zone; the simultaneous signature of the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) by India and

Pakistan; mutual verification by these countries of each

other’s nuclear facilities; a bilateral nuclear-test-ban treaty;

a conference with the participation of India, Pakistan, the

United States, Russia and China to elaborate

non-proliferation and security arrangements in our region.

Regrettably, these proposals have not yet been accepted.

Conventional disarmament can also be promoted most

effectively in the regional context. The Geneva Conference

on Disarmament should elaborate principles to promote such

regional arms control and disarmament in the conventional

field. The United Nations arms transfer Register has proved

to be a successful experiment. Pakistan has provided the

required information on its arms acquisition and sales.

However, this Register may not provide a complete picture

of the dangers to peace in various regions. It is only when

both the transfer and the indigenous production of

armaments are taken into account that a comprehensive

evaluation of arms balances or imbalances can be made.

To promote peace and prosperity, it is essential to

facilitate rather than restrain the application of modern

technology for economic and social development. The

United Nations should consider preparing a comprehensive

study of the impediments placed arbitrarily in the way of the

application of advanced technology for the promotion of

economic and social development in the developing

countries.

The global recession of the past few years has brought

severe hardship to many of the poorest countries and

especially to the poorest within these countries. The

growing number of people living in absolute poverty

threatens political stability in many developing countries. A

comprehensive programme for development should be

accorded high priority by the world community.

The forces of protectionism must be resisted. The

Uruguay Round must be concluded by the end of 1993.

Adequate official resources should be channelled to those

developing countries which are implementing far-reaching

economic reform and liberalization measures. The desperate

needs of Africa require urgent attention. A new flow of

official assistance should be directed in particular to the

Forty-eighth session - 29 September l993 17

eradication of poverty, to human and social development

programmes and to sustainable growth in the developing

countries.

The developing countries need urgently to address the

inexorable and unsustainable growth in their populations.

We greatly appreciate the dedication and efforts of Mr. Nafis

Sadik, the indefatigable head of the United Nations

Population Fund. We hope the forthcoming population

Conference in Cairo will devise a comprehensive long-term

strategy to meet the challenge of burgeoning populations. At

the same time, the needs of the world’s children must

assume priority on national and international agendas.

With the collapse of the Iron Curtain, there are now no

political or ideological obstacles in the way of creating a

truly global economy based on the principles of the market.

We hope that regional economic groupings will produce a

momentum towards global economic interaction and

integration, and not the reverse. Pakistan stands at the

crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and the

Gulf, and can serve as a link for mutually beneficial

economic, commercial and industrial cooperation between

these adjacent regions.

The United Nations is the only forum where the nations

of the world can concert their policies to construct the new

structures for global peace and progress. The Secretary

General has pointed in the right direction in his report

entitled "An Agenda for Peace".

It is essential to strengthen the mechanisms for

dispute-settlement and the resolution of conflicts provided

for in the Charter of the United Nations. At the same time,

the Security Council must exhibit a more uniform and

consistent resolve to implement its own decisions and

resolutions. Only thus can the goal of collective security

become a living reality.

Pakistan agrees that an appropriate enlargement of the

membership of the Security Council is required to enhance

its representative character. Its procedures should also be

made more transparent. The guiding principles for reform

must be democracy and the sovereign equality of Member

States. We cannot contemplate according privileged status

to those countries which have a record of defying the

principles of the United Nations Charter and refusing to

implement the resolutions of the Security Council.

The demands made on the United Nations for

peace-keeping and peacemaking have increased significantly.

Today there are 80,000 United Nations peace-keepers

engaged in some 17 operations. Their missions are often

difficult and dangerous. Yet the Members of the United

Nations have to accept the risks and assist States and

communities threatened by more powerful neighbours and

adversaries. Pakistan is among the largest contributors to

United Nations peace-keeping operations, with more than

6,000 personnel committed to United Nations operations at

present.

If the United Nations is to discharge its growing

responsibilities, it must be assured of stable and adequate

resources to finance its activities. The cost of alternatives

would be immensely higher.

The forty-eighth session of the General Assembly

should mark a watershed - a transition from the habits of the

cold war to an endeavour to construct peace and universal

prosperity in a new multipolar era. To succeed in this

endeavour, we shall need to arrest the dangerous

proliferation of national and ethnic conflicts and disputes;

establish the supremacy of human rights, democracy and

freedom; prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass

destruction and move towards nuclear and conventional

disarmament, and arrest the forces of trade protectionism and

mercantilism to foster global and sustainable development.

The challenges that the Member States of the United

Nations confront are imposing indeed. Yet, the opportunities

for genuine peace and universal prosperity are also most

promising. With goodwill and cooperation, Member States

can make significant progress at this session towards the

vision of peace, progress and human solidarity envisaged in

the Charter.