UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has abstained from voting in the U.N. General Assembly which passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority, rejecting the forcible acquisition of land, and called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and underscoring the need for peace ensuring the country’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity”.
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The vote, which came on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was 141 in Favour to seven against, with 32 abstentions including the one from Pakistan.
Seven countries — Belarus, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea and Mali — voted against the resolution. All have close military and political ties with Russia.
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So far, both India and Pakistan have refrained from voting on UN resolutions on Ukraine; India because of past ties and Pakistan out of future concerns.
“Pakistan has abstained on the draft resolution,” said the country’s UN ambassador Munir Akram while explaining the move. But Islamabad “fully supports” the resolution’s “call for respect for the principle of the sovereignty, sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states and non-acquisition of territory by the threat or use of force,” he added.
The Pakistani envoy endorsed the resolution’s spirit that “states cannot be torn apart by the use of force” but noted that “these principles have not been universally applied and respected”. He pointed out that in the situation of foreign occupation and “the ongoing attempt at the illegal and forcible annexation of Jammu and Kashmir”, these principles were not applied.
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“While my delegation agrees with and endorses the principles and general provisions contained in the draft resolution, there are some provisions which are not consistent with Pakistan’s principled position on some of the elements covered in the resolution,” he added.
Ambassador Akram said that as a country that had seen and suffered the consequences of prolonged conflict in its neighbourhood, “Pakistan attaches highest priority to the immediate cessation of hostilities and the resumption of a dialogue to achieve a just and durable solution — through direct or indirect negotiations, mediation or other peaceful means”.
The Pakistani envoy called on the secretary general, inter alia under Chapter VI and VIII of the UN Charter, to play his role for efforts aimed at de-escalation, renewed negotiations, and sustained dialogue for a peaceful diplomatic solution of the Ukrainian issue.
Pakistan, he said, also hoped for the resumption of a dialogue for durable resolution of the conflict based on the principles of the UN Charter and past agreements, and bearing in mind the legitimate security interests of all states“.
Consistent with its position on the draft resolution in the document, Pakistan had also abstained on the amendments proposed to the resolution by Belarus, which sought to “water down” the resolution.
