Pakistan

The Pakistan delegation congratulates you warmly, Sir, on your election to preside over this important forty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Your election is a fitting tribute to your experience and outstanding achievements. It is also an expression of the high regard in which the international community holds your great country. We are confident that under your able stewardship this Assembly will succeed in advancing the noble aims and objectives of our Charter. I wish also to record my delegation’s profound appreciation for your predecessor, Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana. He presided most ably over the Assembly as well as over the important Working Group on Security Council reforms. The principal purpose of this world Organization is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". The United Nations must ensure that the twilight of the twentieth century is not as bloody as was its dawn. We must act resolutely to end the series of regional conflicts that currently threaten international peace and stability. The civil war in Afghanistan has compounded the suffering imposed on its people during the long and victorious struggle against foreign occupation. The world community should not forsake the Afghan people. We must continue to demand an immediate end to the hostilities. We must promote a new political consensus for the future governance of Afghanistan. To facilitate this, we must commence reconstruction in the peaceful parts of the country. We welcome the temporary truce in Tajikistan. Pakistan hopes that the preliminary steps agreed will be implemented by the parties. This is essential to ensure the success of the third round of United Nations- sponsored talks, to be held in Islamabad later this month. The United Nations must encourage the peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue on the basis of a bi- communal and bi-zonal federation, in which the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot community would have equal status. The Security Council must act, under Chapter VII of the Charter, to implement its own resolutions, reverse the Armenian aggression and restore the unity and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We all bear a collective responsibility for the failure to halt and reverse Serbian aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. A holocaust has taken place before the eyes of the world. Two hundred thousand Bosnians, mostly Muslims, have been killed. Of them, 30,000 were innocent children. Forty thousand Muslim women have been systematically raped by the Serbs. Millions of Muslim men, women and children have been ejected forcibly and brutally from their homes. While the aggression was going on, the major Powers went through the motions of promoting peace. The Security Council adopted 50 resolutions, but it has yet to implement them. Mediators appointed by the United Nations and the European Union advocated peace plans that rewarded the aggressor and penalized the victim. Even the right to self-defence has been denied to the Bosnians. The United Nations Protection Force has 10 supervised relief but failed to stop the war or protect the Bosnian people. It was only when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization carried out - belatedly - the threat of air strikes that the Serbs halted their onslaught against Goradze and Sarajevo. The Bosnian Serbs have rejected the peace plan, which is, in truth, unjust to the Bosnian Muslims. It does not entirely reverse "ethnic cleansing". It does not punish the aggressor. It does not ensure the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia should be offered peace with justice, otherwise peace will not endure. Pakistan and other Islamic countries are appalled at the Security Council’s recent decision to ease the sanctions against Belgrade - the root cause of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. This will not stop the flow of military supplies to the Bosnian Serbs. It will merely encourage Serbian intransigence. The Bosnian Muslims must be allowed to exercise their right to self-defence. Pakistan and other Islamic countries fully support the demand for the immediate lifting of the arms embargo against Bosnia and Herzegovina. We regret the threats by certain countries to withdraw their troops from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) if the embargo is lifted. The Islamic States will be ready to contribute their troops to UNPROFOR to compensate for any shortfall created by such withdrawals. We call for vigorous steps by UNPROFOR to effectively protect and provision Sarajevo and other safe areas. We also urge the creation of exclusion zones around all safe areas. If expansionism is not stopped in Bosnia, if genocide is not punished, the virus of war will spread to Kosovo, to Sandjak and perhaps to the entire Balkans. A wider conflict in this volatile region could have the most serious consequences for peace and security in Europe and the Mediterranean. A grim and bloody struggle is also going on in Jammu and Kashmir. As in Bosnia, it is an unequal struggle - between the defenceless Kashmiri people and an Indian occupation force that now numbers 600,000. In Kashmir, as in Bosnia, the principles of the Charter, of international law and of international morality have been violated with impunity. The struggle of the Kashmiri people is just and legitimate. They were promised by the United Nations Security Council - and by India and Pakistan - that they would decide, through a United Nations-supervised plebiscite, whether they wished to join India or Pakistan. On 26 June 1952, the late Prime Minister of India, Mr. Nehru, stated in the Indian Parliament: "If, after a proper plebiscite, the people of Kashmir said, ’We do not want to be with India’, we are committed to accept that ... we will not send an army against them". But India has gone back on its agreement. It refuses to implement the Security Council resolutions. It has sent its army against the people of Kashmir. It has chosen to crush the Kashmiri freedom movement by brute force. Over the past five years, 40,000 Kashmiris have been killed; thousands more are in Indian jails. Thousands of Kashmiri women have been raped by Indian soldiers as part of a policy to break the spirit of the Kashmiri people. Whole villages and neighbourhoods have been put to the torch. Torture is routine; disappearances are common; and summary executions are standard practice in Kashmir. India’s massive violations of human rights have been well documented by impartial organizations and observers, such as Amnesty International, Asia Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights, the International Commission of Jurists, Physicians for Human Rights and many others. The world knows about Indian barbarism in Kashmir. It is unfortunate that the world has remained silent so far. When faced with the possibility of censure by this Assembly last year, India offered to resume talks with Pakistan on Kashmir. In the talks held last January, India displayed no desire for a settlement. It repeated the fiction that Kashmir was an integral part of India. The Indian Foreign Secretary told us that India had the right to use as much force as it wanted to prevent Kashmir from breaking away. When the issue was raised at the Commission on Human Rights, India offered cosmetic concessions to prevent the dispatch of a United Nations fact-finding mission to Kashmir. Thereafter, it denied it had made such a deal. On the ground as well, India escalated its repression as soon as international pressure was eased. The day after we agreed to resume talks, India conducted a massacre in Sopore, killing 50 Kashmiris. Once India had concluded that the major Powers would overlook its human rights violations because of the lure of trade and profits in India, the repression against the Kashmiris and the rhetoric against Pakistan sharply escalated. 11 Let me quote from the conclusions of the latest report of Human Rights Watch/Asia, entitled: India: Continuing Repression in Kashmir (August 1994, vol. 6, No. 8) "As this report amply illustrates, the human rights situation in Kashmir is getting worse at a time when international pressure on the Indian Government has all but ceased. Indeed, it could be argued that the increase in deaths in custody and other abuses over the last six months is not unrelated to the signals sent by India’s one-time critics, notably the United States: that human rights would no longer feature prominently in bilateral discussions". (p. 20) I have seen the statement made here yesterday by the Commerce Minister of India. While I can fully subscribe to the high ideals which he has propounded, I find myself in the same situation as the distinguished philosopher the late Mr. Bertrand Russell, when he observed that "When one observes that the high idealism of the Indian Government in international matters breaks down completely with the question of Kashmir, it is difficult to avoid a feeling of despair". India preens itself and postures on the issue of terrorism. Terrorism is the use of indiscriminate violence against innocent people. This must be condemned. By this yardstick, India is guilty of daily and systematic acts of terrorism against the Kashmiris. On the other hand, to resist a foreign invader, to repel an army of occupation engaged in murder, torture, rape and arson is not terrorism. It is the exercise of self-defence. Self-defence is a right as old as history; a right recognized in the United Nations Charter. Distinguished representatives: If your son was killed, and his body was thrown on your doorstep, how would you respond? If your daughter was gang-raped by the soldiers of an occupation army, what would be your response? The Kashmiri people have the right - under international law, under our Charter, under our resolutions - to resist the Indian army of occupation by all the means at their disposal. Their heroic struggle cannot be dismissed as terrorism. It is a valiant freedom movement which deserves the full support of the international community. Pakistan is a party to the Kashmir dispute. Our people are incensed at India’s brutal killing of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters. We have, nevertheless, acted with restraint. We have extended moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris. We have refrained from extending military help to them. The Indian allegations of Pakistan’s support for the so-called militants are designed to explain away the resilience of the Kashmiri freedom movement, to erode international sympathy and support for the Kashmiris and, more ominously, to create perhaps a casus belli for a new aggression against Pakistan. The Kashmir crisis poses a growing threat to international peace and security. On India’s independence day this year, Prime Minister Rao demanded all of Kashmir. In recent months, Indian politicians and generals have threatened to launch attacks across the Line of Control. India’s violations of the cease-fire have escalated. During August alone, the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) recorded 142 complaints from Pakistan of Indian cease-fire violations. Indian firing across the Line of Control is specifically aimed at civilians. In the past five years, over 600 civilians have been killed on our side of the line. Pakistan’s self-restraint should not be misunderstood. Indian aggression will have disastrous consequences. There are three priorities in addressing the Kashmir question: first, to avert the threat of a conflict; secondly, to ameliorate the suffering of the Kashmiri people; and, thirdly, to open a credible diplomatic process designed to achieve a just and peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute. To arrest the threat to peace, I have addressed a letter to the President of the Security Council proposing that the United Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan should be substantially enlarged from its present size of 35 observers. UNMOGIP should be allowed to perform its mandate of patrolling both sides of the Line of Control. This would help to stem cease-fire violations, lower tensions and avoid the danger of a conflict. The enlarged United Nations Observer Group could also ascertain the veracity of India’s allegations that Pakistan is providing military assistance to the Kashmiri struggle. I hope that the Security Council will approve our proposal. I hope that India will allow the United Nations Observers to discharge their mandate of patrolling on both sides of the Line of Control. Secondly, to ameliorate the suffering of the Kashmiri people, India should take some genuine steps to halt its 12 repression. We note with satisfaction that concern about opinion at this Assembly has convinced India to release at least two of the imprisoned Kashmiri leaders. This is a victory for the Kashmiri freedom struggle. These aging and ailing leaders will, we hope, be allowed to proceed abroad for medical treatment. Shabir Ahmed Shah, who, like Nelson Mandela, has spent 20 years in prison because of his commitment to freedom, has not been released. The world community must demand the release of this prisoner of conscience. There is no evidence that India has given up its repressive strategy in Kashmir. This will become visible once India lifts the Draconian emergency laws operative in Kashmir, releases all the Kashmiris detained in Indian jails, withdraws a part of its huge force from Kashmir, and allows human rights organizations and humanitarian agencies free access to the occupied Valley of Kashmir. And we hope the international community will not forget the victims of Indian atrocities. As in Bosnia and Rwanda, the human rights violations which have been documented and reported by impartial agencies must be investigated by an international tribunal, and those who are found guilty must be punished. Finally, the efforts to promote a political settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must take into account three realities. First, the Kashmiri freedom struggle cannot be crushed by force. New Delhi’s forecasts of imminent success are designed to deceive the Indian public and world public opinion. The Indian army is caught in a quagmire. Secondly, despite India’s assertions about Pakistan’s interference, the Kashmiri struggle is obviously indigenous. The Line of Control in Kashmir has 400 soldiers per kilometre. The Indians have wired and mined the Line. Nothing can get through. United Nations monitoring of the Line can verify this. No external force can convince the Kashmiris to offer the kind of sacrifices being made by Kashmiri men, women and children in the cause of freedom. For five years the Kashmiris have sustained their struggle. They will continue their struggle even if Pakistan wishes otherwise. Thirdly, no credible Kashmiri group or leader accepts a "solution" for Kashmir within the Indian Union. The so-called political process advertised by India is wishful thinking. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which groups 34 Kashmiri political parties and organizations, has rejected any settlement short of freedom from India. Arriving in Srinagar after his release two days ago, Abdul Ghani Lone said: "Any elections to be held in Kashmir are to be under the auspices of the United Nations and ... only for the right of self-determination". The other released Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Shah Ghani, said: "Elections are no answer to the problem in Kashmir. The people of the State do not accept anything short of freedom. There will be no compromise in the fight for self-determination". India’s attempt to organize another fraudulent election in Kashmir will prove abortive. As the Security Council declared in 1957, such unilateral actions cannot be considered as the basis for the "final disposition" of Jammu and Kashmir. This can only be done through a United Nations-supervised plebiscite prescribed by the Security Council. A final settlement of the Kashmir dispute will have to be based on the freely expressed wishes of the Kashmiri people. In a paper transmitted to India last February, Pakistan outlined the possible modalities for ascertaining their wishes. Pakistan welcomes the Secretary-General’s offer to exert every possible effort to "facilitate the search for a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue" (A/49/1, para. 542). We hope India will also accept the Secretary-General’s offer of good offices, as Pakistan has done. Pakistan is prepared for talks with India on Kashmir. It was Pakistan which initiated the Foreign Secretary-level talks. But after six rounds of talks it is evident to us that India’s ostensible desire for negotiations with Pakistan carries little credibility while it continues the killing in Kashmir. Pakistan does not reject dialogue, but it must not be a dialogue of the deaf. Kashmir is a dispute between India and Pakistan. Every dispute between two States is bilateral. It is also an international issue. The United Nations is obliged to take cognizance of such disputes, specially when they involve violations of the United Nations Charter and the non-implementation of Security Council resolutions. Kashmir is the key to unlocking the problems of South Asia. Kashmir cannot be brushed aside any longer. The conspiracy of silence must be broken. A resolution of the Kashmir situation is required to avoid the danger of a conflict. A solution of the Kashmir dispute will also 13 enhance the prospects of conventional arms control and non-proliferation in South Asia. My Government believes that to reduce the danger of war in South Asia it is essential to promote a balance in conventional arms between Pakistan and India, at the lowest possible levels. India fields the third largest army in the world. Almost all of it is deployed against Pakistan. During the past decade India was the world’s largest arms importer. Even during the Afghan war, India’s arms acquisitions were over five times those of Pakistan. Pakistan’s defence capabilities have deteriorated further since 1990. Last year, while Pakistan’s defence spending declined in real terms, India’s increased by 20 per cent. Pakistan has made several proposals to India for conventional arms control: negotiation of a mutually agreed ratio of forces; measures to prevent the possibilities of a surprise attack, adoption of agreed principles for conventional arms control in South Asia. Pakistan has no desire to expend more of its scarce resources on arms. Meaningful arms control and confidence-building measures could also help to stem the danger of a nuclear arms race in our region. Pakistan’s concern about nuclear proliferation in South Asia precedes the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As early as the mid-1960s Pakistan had warned the world that India would misuse nuclear cooperation. The late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto proposed the creation of a South Asia nuclear-free zone in 1972. In May 1974 India exploded the bomb - ironically calling it the "Smiling Buddha". Pakistan made every endeavour to counter proliferation in South Asia. Apart from the nuclear- weapon-free zone, we advanced subsequent proposals: for the simultaneous signature of the NPT by India and Pakistan, for acceptance of full-scope safeguards, for joint renunciation of nuclear weapons, for a bilateral test-ban treaty. All have been spurned by India. A proposal made by the United States for a conference to promote non-proliferation in South Asia, involving Russia, the People’s Republic of China and the United States, as well as India and Pakistan, was also rejected by New Delhi. Pakistan has displayed responsibility and restraint in the nuclear field. While we have acquired a certain technological capability, we have not manufactured or exploded a nuclear device. We have not deployed nuclear weapons. We have not transferred sensitive technologies. Twenty years after exploding its nuclear bomb, India is about to take another fateful step towards proliferation: the production and deployment of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. India is continuing work on its medium-range AGNI missile as well as on intercontinental ballistic missiles. It conducted user trials of the short-range Prithvi this year. The Prithvi is a mobile missile. Once it is produced, Pakistan will have to presume that it has been deployed. It is still not too late to prevent nuclear-weapon proliferation in South Asia. Pakistan suggests two critical steps to avoid this danger. First, we suggest an agreement between India and Pakistan not to develop or deploy ballistic missiles. India’s production and deployment of the Prithvi will invite a matching response from Pakistan. We have advanced the concept of a Zero Missile Zone in South Asia. This objective should be endorsed by the world community. Secondly, we suggest an agreement between India and Pakistan not to manufacture or deploy nuclear weapons. We hope India will respond positively to this longstanding proposal. We hope it will agree, as a first step, to issue a joint declaration with Pakistan renouncing nuclear weapons. It is unfortunate that India and Pakistan have never succeeded in solving any of their disputes through bilateral negotiations. Agreements reached on two major problems - the Indus Waters Treaty and the Rann of Kutch Accord - were made possible by the intercession of a third party. At this critical moment, when tensions are high and peace is threatened in South Asia, the States Members of the United Nations have a fundamental responsibility to bring to bear their collective influence to promote solutions to the interlinked problems of Kashmir, conventional arms conflict and non-proliferation. 14 Pakistan desires good-neighbourly relations with India. We want our people to devote their energies to the vital task of nation-building. We want to banish from our midst the spectre of rampant poverty. We want our people to live with dignity. These goals cannot be attained unless we resolve the Kashmir problem and others and build a climate of trust and confidence in South Asia. Pakistan has embarked on a new path of socio-economic revival and growth. We have released the dynamism of our private sector. We have created an economic climate that is most hospitable to domestic and foreign investment, and the results have been most gratifying. Agreements for foreign investment of $4 billion were concluded 10 days ago with a delegation led by the United States Secretary of Energy. Additional investment is likely in the energy, telecommunications, electronics and other dynamic sectors of the Pakistan economy. Today, Pakistan and all of South Asia have the chance to break out of the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment. We must not lose this chance. We must not let history pass us by again. We meet on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. The end of the cold war has released both positive and negative forces that were long suppressed. The principles of democracy, human rights and free markets have triumphed. We have celebrated the entry into the United Nations of many new States, proud and free. The victory of democracy has been achieved in South Africa. The victory of peace may well be realized in the Middle East. Today, there is no threat of a global nuclear war. Unprecedented affluence has been achieved in parts of the world. Momentous technological breakthroughs have been made. We now have the potential to achieve global peace, address global problems and promote global prosperity. But even as we celebrate these victories, the triumphs of reason and statesmanship, we must confront the dark forces of aggression, racism, fascism and bigotry, which have again raised their head in many parts of the world. It is, perhaps, not surprising that once the restraints of the cold war structures were lifted, conflicts and disputes - between States and within them - should have erupted like an epidemic. The world community has been unprepared to confront and repel aggression - witness Bosnia, Azerbaijan and Kashmir. We have been unable to muster the political will to stop genocide - witness Rwanda. We are unprepared to pay the price to help the hungry and save the deprived of the Earth - witness the Sahel. The principal task of this session must be to revive hope, to restore the confidence of our peoples, that we, the States Members of the United Nations, acting together, can build peace where it is broken; that we can bring solace to those who are suffering; that we can uphold and enforce justice where this is needed; and that we can enlarge the horizons of prosperity to embrace those teeming millions who are imprisoned in poverty.