Pakistan for impartial, consistent implementation of UN Charter to prevent conflicts

NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, has called for the impartial, consistent, and effective implementation of the UN Charter to prevent conflicts and resolve disputes peacefully.

He was speaking at the high-level discussion titled “The UN Charter at 80: Conflict Prevention and Resolution,” hosted by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan in collaboration with Global Peace Chain, a nonprofit peace-building and youth empowerment organization.

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that the Charter does not need reinvention. Its wisdom has endured over the last eight decades. He said what must be reimagined is how we apply it in practice.

The ambassador said that the credibility of the UN Charter is ultimately tested in its application to long-standing disputes particularly where political sensitivities are high, but legal and moral clarity is unmistakable.

He quoted the situations of Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir as among the starkest examples, stating that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute could have been a successful example of the application of Charter provisions for pacific settlement of disputes.

Other speakers including permanent representatives, academics and civil society representatives reaffirmed the enduring relevance of the UN Charter, describing it as a cornerstone of international peace and security, particularly its provisions on the peaceful settlement of disputes under Chapter VI.