Imran Khan advocate the issue of kashmiries in UNGA
Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The highlight of his speech was intense criticism of India for its annexation of occupied Kashmir and the continued restrictions imposed in the region.
The premier began his speech by saying he feels honoured to represent Pakistan at the world forum.
He said he would not have come to the UN if he did not feel that some “urgent issues” needed to be addressed.
‘Humans facing huge catastrophe’
The first issue addressed by Prime Minister Imran was climate change. “First of all I start with climate change. So many leaders spoke about climate change but I feel there is a lack of seriousness (to tackle the issue).
“Perhaps some of the leaders who can do a lot do not realise the seriousness of the situation. There are a lot of ideas but they are nothing without funding,” said the premier, who was not reading from a paper.
He noted that Pakistan is in the top ten list of countries who are most affected by climate change.
“We depend on our rivers and 80 per cent of our water comes from glaciers. The glaciers are also in India in the Himalayas, Karakorum and the Hindu Kush.
“If nothing is done, we are scared humans are facing a huge catastrophe.
“In my country where I came into power in KP we planted one billion trees and plan to plant 10bn to counter global warming effects.
“One country cannot do anything, it has to be a combined effort of the world.”
He said the countries contributing to green house gas emmissions must be pushed and the UN must take initiative.
Money laundering ‘devastating developing world’
Prime Minister Imran, whose speech went beyond the allotted 15 minutes, said the second issue he was speaking about is even more critical — that of illicit financial flows.
“Every year billions of dollars leave the poorer countries and go towards rich countries, siphoned off by the ruling elites of the western world.
“This is devastating the developing world. It is impoverishing them. The rich-poor gap is growing because of them.”
He regretted that the seriousness with which money from drugs or terror financing is treated is not accorded to money laundered from poor countries.
“How will we help [our] 200 million people when we are just using all of our money for debt servicing? We could spend the money lost on our human beings.
“We do not have the money to spend millions on lawyers. We need help from the rich countries; they must show political will.
“How can poor countries spend money on human development?
“Unless the rich countries intend to build walls to stop economic refugees from coming in, there must be a deterrent.
‘Islamophobia is creating divisions’
Addressing the prevalance of Islamophobia, Prime Minister Imran said it has grown at an alarming pace.
“Islamophobia is creating divisions, hijab is becoming a weapon; a woman can take off clothes but she can’t put on more clothes.
“It started after 9/11 and it started because certain western leaders equated Islam with terrorism.
He questioned the use of the term ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ saying: “There is only one Islam.
“This radical Islamic terrorism used by leaders has caused Islamophobia and has caused pain for Muslims.
“The basis of all religions is compassion and justice which differentiates us from the animal kingdom.
“The Muslim leaders all became moderates and our government coined a phrase ‘enlightened moderation’.
Kashmir oppression
The fourth issue which the prime minister talked about in detail was the oppression of the people of occupied Kashmir.
“When we came to power, we swore that we would try to bring peace.
“We went to fight the war on terror and we faced losses of (thousands of people).
“I opposed the war because in the 1980s we joined the struggle against the Soviets funded by western countries.
“The mujahideen were trained by the Pakistan Army and they waged the freedom struggle. The soviets called them terrorists and we called them freedom fighters.
“In 1989 soviets retreated; the Americans packed up and left. Here we had indoctrinated them in jihad against foreign occupation and now that th US had taken over, we were supposed to tell them it’s no longer jihad.
“And so the US turned against us and it was a nightmare.
“Taliban were in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda was there; what did Pakistan have to do with it?
“When we came to power we decided we would dismantle what was left. I know India keeps alleging that these groups are there.
“I welcome UN observers, see for yourself.
“We now have a relationship with Afghanistan, Russia and then we wanted to mend fences with India.
“I have friends in India and i love going to India. So when my party came to power, we reached out to India and (said) let’s resolve differences through trade.
“Modi said there were terrorist attacks from Pakistan. We said well we have attacks in Balochistan from your end.
“Unfortunately we didn’t make any head way. Our foreign minister was at the UNGA but they cancelled the meeting.
“Meanwhile a 20-year-old Kashmiri boy blew himself up at the Indian convoy. And India blamed us.
“We told him (Modi) if you have an iota of proof send it. They bombed us (instead), and we retaliated.
“Modi’s entire campaign hinged on how he had killed ten trees of ours. He used words like ‘this is just a trailer and the movie has yet to begun.’
