NEW YORK (Staff Report) – Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi Wednesday said that dialogue is imperative to resolve problems in Middle Eastern countries.
This she said while taking part in the discussion at the UN Security Council in New York.
Maleeha Lodhi said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is making efforts to promote harmony in the region.
She pointed out the Prime Minister made efforts to end tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
She emphasized that OIC can play an important role in ending conflict and for durable peace in the region.
Speaking in the Security Council debate on the ‘Middle East including Palestine” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Dr. Maleeha Lodhi said that the new and revived tensions, polarizing the region were toxic not only for the countries already engulfed in conflict but could encompass other regional states and lead to widening turmoil.
That is why, she told the 15-member UN body, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had undertaken a mediator mission as Pakistan’s contribution to promote harmony in the region.
The Pakistani envoy said that the wider wars across the region, while rooted in divisions that span centuries, have been ignited by more recent foreign interventions, in Iraq and elsewhere. “The foundations of the old order in the region has been eroded, giving way to disorder spread by state and non-state actors such as Daish”, she added.
Ambassador Lodhi said that Pakistan believes that a stable order should emerge from the present chaos in West Asia and the Levant. To this end, “a consistent dialogue is essential between all the regional states, with the support of the major powers.”
Such a dialogue, she argued, can be promoted under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. It can help to promote fair and durable solutions to the conflicts and disputes in the region, and build consensus on collective counter terrorism actions, based on the principles of the UN Charter and the divinely ordained unity of the world’s Muslims – the Ummah, she added.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi also stressed that “the fires that have ignited across the region in recent years – in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and beyond – cannot eclipse the Palestine question, nor render a solution for its enduring tragedy less urgent or essential.”
