- Amb Iftikhar calls the UNGA resolution a necessary assertion of international will, saying, ‘Pakistan proud to have supported and co-sponsored this initiative’
NEW YORK: Pakistan voiced “profound anguish, disappointment, and mounting despair” over the worsening plight of the people in the besieged Gaza Strip as the 10th UN General Assembly session on Palestine resumed Tuesday, calling the situation not just a humanitarian catastrophe but a collapse of humanity.
“The situation in Gaza is a stain on our collective conscience,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 193-member Assembly, which last week adopted a resolution—by an overwhelming majority—demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza and aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council on June 4.
Piloted by Spain, the resolution, co-sponsored by Pakistan and 47 other states, garnered 149 votes in favor to 12 against, with 19 abstentions. Among those opposing the resolution were the United States and Israel, while India was among the countries abstaining.
“These (the demands made in the Assembly resolution) are not aspirations—they are obligations,” the Pakistani envoy said, stressing, “The international community must act with urgency to ensure their implementation.”
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar called the resolution a necessary assertion of international will, saying, “Pakistan is proud to have supported and co-sponsored this initiative.”
Pointing out that over 55,000 lives have been lost, including 18,000 children and 28,000 women, he said that infrastructure has been razed—homes, hospitals, schools, cultural heritage, and places of worship—while famine looms, with humanitarian workers and UN personnel being attacked with impunity.
Against this backdrop, Ambassador Iftikhar reiterated Pakistan’s call for the immediate steps necessary not only to stem this horror but also to lay the foundations for a just and lasting peace.
These included an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire, ending the killings; lifting of the Gaza blockade, with humanitarian aid allowed freely and safely and international agencies empowered, not hindered; full restoration of UNRWA’s mandate, access, and funding; and confronting the root cause: the prolonged, illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
“There will be no durable peace without justice, and no justice without the realization of the two-state solution—based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous State of Palestine,” the Pakistan envoy told the Assembly.
In this regard, he said, Pakistan looks forward to the convening of the high-level conference on Palestine and the two-state solution in coming weeks, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. The conference was to be held this week but was postponed following the Israeli aggression against Iran that led to heightened tensions between the two Middle East rivals.
“We must work together to ensure its tangible outcomes in advancing a credible path toward durable peace, Palestinian statehood, and its full membership in the United Nations,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said, adding, “It will be yet another clear demonstration of where the international community stands on this issue.”
The stakes, he said, were high, and the international community must not look away as the credibility of the international system—of multilateralism itself—was on trial.
“It is ludicrous that the occupying power, the worst violator of international law and those who protect and shield it can stand in this August Assembly, criticizing and blaming the rest of the international community for being on the right side of history,” he said.
“Moral bankruptcy must have no space in this house. We must rise above politics and pressure and act with moral clarity, legal integrity, and political will. We must condemn aggression.”
Pakistan’s commitment to the Palestinian people was unwavering, he said, reaffirming, “We will continue to raise our voice—in solidarity and in hope—until justice is done, until the occupation is ended, and their inalienable rights are realized.
“That is in line with the permanent responsibility of the United Nations with regard to the question of Palestine until it is resolved in all its aspects in accordance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions.”
