Pakistan advances peace at UNSC
Pakistan calls for resolving long-standing conflicts as part of efforts to combat terrorism as the country assumes the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of July, amid escalating global conflicts and humanitarian crises, such as in Gaza.
The announcement of Pakistan's new role at the top-most forum was made simultaneously by the United Nations and the Foreign Office in Islamabad. "Pakistan assumes the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of July," the UN stated on the social media platform X.
FO spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement on Tuesday that Pakistan's approach during its UNSC presidency would be to continue to remain anchored in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respect for international law, and commitment to multilateralism.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in a separate tweet on X said that Pakistan's presidency came at a time of escalating conflicts and humanitarian crises across the world. "We will strive to steer the Security Council towards responsive and effective action grounded in dialogue, diplomacy and peaceful dispute resolution," Dar wrote on X.
Simultaneously with the UNSC presidency, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to UN at Geneva Ambassador Kamran Akhtar has been elected as president of the 53rd session of the United Nations Industrial Development Board (UNIDO).
Earlier, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad addressed an 'Ambassadorial-Level Consultations on UN80 and the Future of the UN Counterterrorism Architecture'. The UN80 Initiative is a system-wide push to reaffirm the UN's relevance in a rapidly changing world.
"The UN's counterterrorism discourse must not only address the response factors but also the underlying and preventive factors," he said. "We must also clearly distinguish between terrorism and the legitimate struggle against foreign occupation and the right to self-determination," he added.
Ahmad stressed the need for the UN Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) to integrate respect for human rights and rule of law to prevent abuse of counterterrorism actions by the member states. "The more we shy away from addressing these issues, the more prolonged our counterterrorism efforts will be."
Separately, speaking at a briefing on the situation in the Middle East, Ambassador Ahmad called on the UNSC not to remain "a bystander" amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with Israeli military attacks on aid-seeking civilians continued to exact a devastating toll on lives and infrastructure.
The Pakistani envoy described the "new aid distribution mechanism" as not only contrary to international humanitarian law and human dignity, it also places starving civilians in direct danger, forcing them to cross active combat zones in search of food and water.
"This is a death trap. The result is a grotesque cycle of horror. Over 500 people have been killed while trying to access humanitarian aid. There is no need to reinvent the wheel with militarised, dangerous and unlawful schemes," he said.
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