Pakistan calls for UNSC’s urgent intervention for ceasefire in Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday called upon the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to fulfill its responsibility mandated under the UN Charter and to urgently intervene to impose a ceasefire and bring an end to the massacre of the Palestinian people.

“The siege of Gaza must be lifted to prevent further deaths and suffering from famine and non-availability of decent medical care. Pakistan stands resolute in its unwavering diplomatic, moral, political, and humanitarian support to the besieged people of Gaza,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in her weekly press briefing.

Calling for an immediate reversal of the decision by some countries to suspend UNRWA’s funding, she reiterated Pakistan’s endorsement of the OIC’s condemnation of ongoing Israeli military aggression against Gaza and the expansion of indiscriminate attacks on the Rafah city, the official news agency reported.

She said that the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) had raised alarm on expansion and escalation of the pace of the Israeli aggression and warned against an unacceptable attempt to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their own land.

“Israel’s merciless onslaught against the 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah is a blatant defiance of the provisional measures outlined by the International Court of Justice in its interim order,” she remarked.

Highlighting the Kashmir issue, the spokesperson said India’s campaign to curb dissent in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) remained in full swing.

“On 10th February 2024, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted multiple raids on 15 properties of Jamaat-i-Islami, Kashmir in different cities. These raids were part of an ongoing crackdown against the Kashmiri political organisations. Jamaat-i-Islami is one of the six political organisations already proscribed by India,” she said.

The spokesperson urged the Indian authorities to end intimidation and persecution of the Kashmiri political activists and parties, also calling for the release of all Kashmiri political prisoners and activists.

“Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions,” she reiterated.

Apprising the media of the diplomatic engagements that took place during the last week, she mentioned the 14th round of the Pakistan-Russia Consultative Group on Strategic Stability held on February 7 in which the two sides discussed issues related to international security, regional stability, and various aspects of arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation. Issues around biological, space and information security, as well as new and emerging technologies, including the military use of artificial intelligence were also discussed.

Spokesperson Baloch also informed the media about the recent formal establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and the Commonwealth of Dominica as a joint communique was signed by the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram and his Dominican counterpart Ambassador Philbert Aaron.