United Nations (TDI): Pakistan delivered a powerful rebuke at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, describing the dire situation in Gaza not merely as a humanitarian crisis, but as a “collapse of humanity,” and urged the international community to act decisively.
Speaking during the resumed 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on Palestine, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, voiced “profound anguish, disappointment, and mounting despair” over the suffering in the besieged enclave.
“The situation in Gaza is a stain on our collective conscience,” he told the 193-member Assembly.
His remarks followed the Assembly’s overwhelming adoption last week of a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, along with unimpeded humanitarian access.
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The resolution, initiated by Spain and co-sponsored by Pakistan and 47 other countries, passed with 149 votes in favor, 12 against, and 19 abstentions. The United States and Israel opposed the resolution, while India abstained.
“These are not mere aspirations, they are legal obligations,” Ambassador Asim emphasized, urging the global community to implement the resolution without delay.
Pakistan, he said, was proud to have co-sponsored the initiative, which he called “a necessary assertion of international will.”
He cited devastating statistics from the ongoing conflict: over 55,000 deaths, including 18,000 children and 28,000 women; the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, and religious and cultural sites; and a looming famine made worse by attacks on humanitarian and UN personnel.
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In his address, the Pakistani envoy reiterated a series of urgent demands: an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the lifting of the Gaza blockade, unrestricted humanitarian access, full restoration of UNRWA’s mandate and funding, and above all, confronting the root cause the continued illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
“There will be no durable peace without justice,” he said, “and no justice without the realization of the two-state solution, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous Palestinian state.”
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
