Pakistan, 1998

Mr. President,I wish to

congratulate you on your well-deserved election to preside

over this session of the General Assembly. It is taking place

at a time of profound change and disturbing economic and

political developments in various parts of the world. Your

responsibilities are correspondingly imposing. I am

confident that your accomplishments will be similarly

significant.

Pakistan also wishes to convey its sincere appreciation

to your predecessor, Mr. Udovenko, for the skilful and

productive manner in which he guided the Assembly?s work

over the past year.

As we seek to build the structures for peace and

prosperity on the eve of a new millennium, the United

Nations has become even more indispensable. In an

increasingly interdependent world, the United Nations is the

only organization where nations can come together and

evolve decisions democratically on critical social and

political issues which affect all peoples. Pakistan has

profound faith in the purposes and the promise of the

United Nations.

I wish to pay a warm tribute to our Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, who has moved to revive the United

Nations with bold reforms. These reforms must reinforce

the democratic ethos of the United Nations, especially in

the Security Council, where the endeavour of some is to

create new centres of privilege rather than eliminate old

inequalities. The reform we pursue must be inspired by the

noble vision of the United Nations Charter: social justice,

universal prosperity and global peace and security. To do

anything else is to do less than history demands of us.

We are living in times of change and promise. The

days of global confrontation are gone and doctrines of

containment have lost relevance. The information and

technological revolutions have brought about a phenomenal

interaction among the peoples of the world. The global

village is a reality. Today, the prosperity of one region

supplements and supports that of another. The creed of our

times must be partnership for peace and development. It

will be an irony if the new vision and possibilities are lost

because of narrow prejudices and interests.

The world is also pervaded with a deep sense of

foreboding. We are being propelled into a future which

appears anarchic and insecure. In recent months, the

triumphal hopes for the spread of free markets,

democratic freedoms and world peace have suffered

sobering setbacks. The crisis spreading from the erstwhile

economic dynamo of East Asia has shaken confidence in

the prescriptions of trade and financial liberalization. With

falling incomes and failing hopes, strife has spread among

and within nations in virtually every part of the world.

This will negate the emerging prospects for ending

hunger, disease and ignorance universally.

New conflicts have appeared, while many old

problems persist. The people of Kashmir and Palestine

continue to suffer. Bosnia has seen a brutal war, and now

Kosovo dreads the same fate. Internecine wars have

scarred Africa. Afghanistan has yet to recover from the

ravages of conflict. Peace has remained elusive in the

Middle East. Tensions have been heightened in South

Asia. There is increasing resort to the unilateral use of

force and arbitrary actions against weaker nations. The

multiple conflicts and suffering around the world have

placed extraordinary demands on the United Nations.

We are pained by the continuing tragedy of

Palestine. The promise of peace has turned to despair and

desperation. Peace cannot be achieved without the

realization of the right of self-determination and statehood

of the Palestinian people.

Seventeen years of war have completely destroyed

Afghanistan — its economy, society and polity. Pakistan

has, more than any other country, borne the consequences

of Afghanistan?s turmoil and suffering. We have a vital

interest in the restoration of peace and stability in

Afghanistan.

Pakistan is deeply concerned at the current tensions

between Iran and Afghanistan. We will continue to do all

we can to promote peaceful and friendly relations

between these two fraternal neighbours. Those responsible

for the outrageous killing of the personnel seized from the

Iranian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif must be apprehended

and punished. We call for the release of all remaining

Iranian personnel and other prisoners held by the parties

to the Afghan conflict. We support a United Nations and

Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) fact-finding

mission to Afghanistan.

We urge reconciliation within Afghanistan through

realistic compromise and mutual accommodation. We call

for international engagement and dialogue with

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Afghanistan to promote the objectives of humanitarianism,

human rights and peace. We ask for respect for the

country?s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and

observance of the principles of non-interference and non-

use of force.

This year the nuclear cloud has cast its dark shadow

over South Asia. When India conducted its first explosion

in 1974, the reaction of the major Powers was to impose

restraints against Pakistan. We felt compelled to acquire a

matching capability. Yet, even after we had done so,

Pakistan continued to promote a nuclear-weapons-free zone,

conventional arms restraint and a zero-missile zone in

South Asia. India rejected all these initiatives.

India?s nuclear tests in May should not have come as

a surprise to the world. We had warned the world several

weeks before the tests. Even after India conducted its tests,

the response of the major Powers was weak and ambiguous.

Once again, greater energy was devoted to restraining

Pakistan than in responding to India.

Immediately after its nuclear tests, India?s leaders

adopted a belligerent posture towards Pakistan. They told

us that the geostrategic balance had changed and that

Pakistan should abandon its principled support for Kashmiri

self-determination. Pakistan faced the threat of force. We

felt compelled to convince India that any military

aggression against Pakistan would have the most disastrous

consequences.

The world must appreciate that Pakistan did not

initiate these tests. India tested to alter the strategic balance

and threatened our security and sovereignty. We waited for

17 days for the world to respond. We knew that no country

could provide us security assurances against a nuclear India.

Thus circumstances forced us to test and establish nuclear

deterrence in self-defence. We have violated no

international norm. Regrettably, some friendly countries

have imposed sanctions and other restrictions against

Pakistan. These are unjust. I ask the international

community to determine who is in the wrong and why

Pakistan should be subjected to punitive measures.

Pakistan?s nuclear tests were conducted not to

challenge the existing non-proliferation regime, nor to fulfil

any great power ambition; they were designed to prevent

the threat or use of force against Pakistan. Our tests, in

response to those of India, thus served the cause of peace

and stability in our region.

We are not insensitive to the concerns aroused by the

South Asian nuclear tests. Despite the transformed strategic

situation, we remain opposed to an arms race, nuclear or

conventional. We have announced a unilateral moratorium

on testing. We are prepared to strengthen peace and

stability in the region by mutually agreed measures to

avoid a war, to create a regime for nuclear restraint and

conventional balance and to promote solutions to the

underlying causes of conflict, in particular the Kashmir

dispute.

We will discuss these issues with India when our

dialogue commences. We are also engaged in a dialogue

with several friendly countries to advance these

objectives. Pakistan has never contributed to nuclear

proliferation. We will continue to adhere strictly to our

policy of not exporting sensitive technologies and

equipment.

Pakistan consistently supported the conclusion of a

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) for over

30 years. We voted for the Treaty when it was adopted

by the General Assembly in 1996. We have declared a

moratorium on further testing; so has India. There is no

reason why the two countries cannot adhere to the CTBT.

In a nuclearized South Asia, the CTBT would have

relevance if Pakistan and India were both parties to the

Treaty. The Non-Aligned Summit has called for universal

adherence to the CTBT, especially by the nuclear-weapon

States. This demand is consistent with the Treaty?s

requirement that all nuclear-capable States, including

India, must adhere to the CTBT before it can come into

force. Pakistan will oppose any attempt to change this

fundamental requirement at the conference of States

parties to the Treaty, scheduled to be held in September

1999. Such a change can be made only by consensus.

Pakistan is therefore prepared to adhere to the CTBT

before that conference takes place. However, Pakistan?s

adherence to the Treaty will take place only in conditions

free from coercion or pressure.

In this regard, we expect that the arbitrary

restrictions imposed on Pakistan by multilateral

institutions will be speedily removed. We also expect

discriminatory sanctions against Pakistan to be lifted. And

we count on the full support of the world community for

a just resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

On the nuclear issue, Pakistan will insist on the

principle of equal treatment with India, whether in terms

of status or any kind of incentives. It must also be well

understood that if India should resume nuclear testing,

Pakistan will review its position and, if we have adhered

to the CTBT, invoke the supreme interests clause as

provided for under article IX of the Treaty.

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Nuclear deterrence between Pakistan and India will

remain fragile and dangerous as long as there is a growing

imbalance in conventional forces. This needs to be

redressed. Above all, durable peace between Pakistan and

India and restraint in their military postures will be, as

always, critically dependent on the resolution of the

Kashmir dispute, which has been the root cause of all

conflicts and tensions between Pakistan and India.

We welcome the recognition in the Secretary-

General?s annual report that the

“rising tension between India and Pakistan over

Kashmir and other issues is ... a major cause of

concern” (A/53/1, para. 18).

For almost 50 years, the people of Kashmir have continued

to await the exercise of the right of self-determination, as

stipulated in the Security Council?s resolutions. India is

obliged to allow the plebiscite prescribed in those United

Nations resolutions. India has, however, failed to honour its

commitments and resorted instead to a policy based on

force to deny the legitimate rights of the Kashmiri people.

Ten years ago, Kashmir?s freedom struggle entered a

new phase when Indian forces fired on peaceful Kashmiri

demonstrators, killing over 100. Kashmir is now occupied

by a force of 650,000 Indian troops. Over 60,000 Kashmiris

have been killed and thousands maimed and arrested.

Custodial killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and

summary executions continue to be daily occurrences. The

nightmare of the Kashmiri people continues. This year,

moreover, scores of innocent Kashmiris in Azad Kashmir

have been killed and hundreds injured by intensified Indian

artillery and mortar fire. Even as I speak, tensions are high

on the line of control.

My Government is committed to resolving our

problem with India through dialogue. This is all the more

important in a nuclear environment in which neither side

has the luxury to contemplate the use of force. In June

1997, we agreed with India on an eight-item agenda and a

mechanism for the dialogue. Unfortunately, the dialogue

was interrupted due to differences over modalities. I am,

however, happy to say that in a meeting which concluded

a short while ago, Prime Minister Vajpayee and I reached

an agreement to resume the dialogue with the

commencement of talks at the Foreign Secretary level,

which will address at the outset the primary issues of peace

and security and Jammu and Kashmir.

The United Nations, the major Powers and the

international community have a responsibility to support

and facilitate a solution to the Kashmir issue. We request

the Secretary-General to take appropriate initiatives to

implement Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and

to ease tensions and build confidence. In particular, we

urge that the United Nations Military Observer Group in

India and Pakistan be strengthened and its mandate

enhanced. The Security Council should regularly monitor

the volatile situation along the line of control in Jammu

and Kashmir.

Until last year, globalization of the world economy

promised the spread of prosperity. Today, 30 per cent of

the world economy is in recession; by next year, this

figure is projected to double. Across East Asia, currencies

have drastically depreciated, economies have contracted,

incomes have plummeted and unemployment has risen,

despite sound economic fundamentals.

As the East Asian crisis spreads, questions are being

posed about the economic wisdom of rapid financial and

trade liberalization and the social implications of

globalization. Yet, in the age of the information and

communications revolution, globalization cannot be

reversed; it can only be effectively governed.

The world community must adopt a coherent

approach to the current crisis. In the short term, it is

essential to spur economic growth in all parts of the

world. The international financial institutions must relax

their unrealistic conditionalities to prevent any further

contraction of the economies of the developing countries.

Mechanisms need to be devised to direct greater

development finance to the underdeveloped countries

which have the largest latent demand. Meanwhile,

markets, especially those of the industrial countries, must

be kept open. New protectionism in the guise of concern

for environmental or labour standards must be resisted.

In order to address these issues effectively, we have

to proceed from three basic premises. First, decisions on

ways to manage globalization must be made collectively

by all nations. Secondly, specific policies must flow from

the overriding objective of ensuring growth with equity:

equity is not only a moral imperative, it is now a

prerequisite for sustained global growth. Thirdly, the

North and South must act together: prosperity for both is

interlinked.

This suggests the need for concerted action by the

international community, which should include, first, the

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strengthening of the capacity of multilateral institutions to

address the issues of trade, finance and development in an

integrated and coherent manner, thereby ensuring the

effective governance of globalization. In this context, a

global monetary conference to address the old and new

problems of the international finance system is now a

necessity and should be convened urgently by the United

Nations. Secondly, this action should include correcting the

inequities in the international trade regime, especially by

more rapid liberalization in areas of primary interest to

developing countries. And finally, it should include

resolution of the long-standing issues of debt, development

finance and access to technology.

What is required today is a realization that there is

unity in the struggle of the South and the North for

economic and social development. A new concept of a

global community appears to be essential: a community

where all human beings are acknowledged as being entitled

to a life of dignity and to the right to development.

The concept of the ummah, or community, in Islamic

thought offers a model for the realization of such a global

community. This concept gives primacy to solidarity among

human beings and to equitable benefits to all members of

the community. Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance;

it is inherently moderate and progressive. Here, I would

like to warmly welcome President Clinton's vision

affirming America?s deep respect for Islam and rejecting

the pernicious thesis of a clash of civilizations. We must

work together to create greater understanding and harmony

among all religions and peoples of the world.

The present drift towards an uncertain and dangerous

world must be arrested. Inequality, conflicts and abuse of

human rights are not the inevitable consequences of

impersonal forces of history. They are the outcome of our

own actions. It is in our power to fashion a more equitable

and more peaceful world. We can do so if we rededicate

ourselves to the ideals of the United Nations Charter. Only

then can we ensure that the next century will dawn on a

prosperous and peaceful world.