UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan abstained on Wednesday in a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote deploring Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine” and demanding that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces.
The resolution, supported by 141 of the bloc’s 193 members, passed in a rare emergency session called by the Security Council while Ukrainian forces battled to defend the port of Kherson in the face of air strikes and a devastating bombardment that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.
The text of the resolution deplores Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine.”
Russia was joined by Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria in voting against the resolution. 35 members, including China and India, abstained.
The last time the Security Council convened an emergency session of the General Assembly was in 1982, according to the UN website.
While General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they carry political weight, with Wednesday’s vote representing a symbolic victory for Ukraine and increasing Moscow’s international isolation. Even Russia’s traditional ally Serbia voted against it.
Ahead of the vote, Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, told the session that Prime Minister Imran Khan regrets the crisis, and had during his recent visit to Moscow hoped that diplomacy could avert military conflict.
Khan spoke to President Vladimir Putin during the historic visit, and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi followed up with his counterparts from Russia and Ukraine in support of efforts aimed at promoting cessation of hostilities and revival of dialogue between the two nations.
“We have since repeatedly stressed the need for de-escalation, renewed negotiations, sustained dialogue, and continuous diplomacy,” Akram recalled.
Statement by @PakistanPR_UN at Emergency Special Session of @UN #GeneralAssembly. pic.twitter.com/HCswx6aj3B
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) March 2, 2022
“Pakistan is committed to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter: self-determination of peoples, non-use or threat of use of force, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and pacific settlement of disputes,” he asserted.
“Equally, Pakistan upholds the principle of equal and indivisible security for all. These principles must be consistently and universally respected.”
‘RULES-BASED ORDER’ AT STAKE
“As 141 member states of the United Nations know, more is at stake even than the conflict in Ukraine itself. This is a threat to the security of Europe and the entire rules-based order,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after the vote.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the assembly that Russia was poised to intensify the brutality of its offensive and urged members to hold Moscow accountable for its violations of international law.
She cited videos of Russian troops moving heavy weapons into Ukraine, including cluster munitions and vacuum bombs, banned under international law.
“This is an extraordinary moment,” she said. “Now, at more than any other point in recent history, the United Nations is being challenged.”
“Vote yes if you believe UN member states — including your own — have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity. Vote yes if you believe Russia should be held to account for its actions,” she added.
Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, denied Moscow was targeting civilians and accused Western governments of pressuring assembly members to pass the resolution, whose adoption he said could fuel further violence.
He repeated Russia’s assertion its action was a special military operation aimed at ending purported attacks on civilians in the self-declared Moscow-backed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Nebenzia charged that Ukrainian forces were using civilians as human shields and deploying heavy weapons in civilian areas.
Elaborating on China’s abstention, Beijing’s envoy, Zhang Jun, said the resolution did not undergo “full consultations with the whole membership” of the assembly.
“Nor does it take full consideration of the history and complexity of the current crisis. It does not highlight the importance of the principle of indivisible security, or the urgency of promoting political settlement and stepping up diplomatic efforts,” he said. “These are not in line with China’s consistent positions.”
China, which has grown increasingly close to Russia in recent years, says it will not participate in Western sanctions against Moscow.
— Reuters, AFP contributed to this report
