Islamabad, 7 October 2022 (TDI): Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf remarked that countries and companies guilty of climate-induced devastations in Pakistan must fulfill their obligation of cutting carbon emissions & releasing pledged climate funds for climate-vulnerable countries.
“Today it is Pakistan but tomorrow it can be another country”, he added.
The National Assembly Speaker made these remarks in his meeting with the Arab group of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU), at Parliament House, Islamabad on Friday.
The meeting was held to seek Arab countries’ cooperation for the Assembly’s proposal of a global climate fund via the forthcoming 145th IPU Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda from 11-15 October 2022.
He said that climate tragedy in Pakistan resulted in colossal losses of lives and livelihood, which were beyond imagination. The calamity was not over rather it had outstretched in the form of diseases and food crises.
Moreover, it has been negatively impacting the country’s economy, which has already suffered losses above 30 billion US dollars, remarked the Speaker.
He urged the Arab countries to support the proposal of the National Assembly for the creation of a global fund by moving an emergency item in the forthcoming IPU Assembly. “The proposal is to demand climate justice for Pakistan by extending judicious support for the flood-ravaged country,” he added.
He also appreciated the generous assistance received from brotherly Arab countries and further said that they always supported Pakistan whenever the need arose and hopefully would continue to do so in that case as well.
Remarks of the Arab Group delegates
The Arab group expressed solidarity with the Speaker over the tragedy and assured to pass on the message to their respective governments and parliaments for backing Pakistan’s demand for climate justice.
They agreed that climate change was one of the greatest challenges at the moment and required collective and sincere efforts from all stakeholders, particularly the big polluters.
The Palestinian delegation appreciated the unequivocal support of Pakistan for furthering the cause of Palestinian freedom.
The delegates from Jordan also expressed their gratitude to the people of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan for supporting Jordan, especially during the war.
The meeting was attended by delegates from Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Palestine, United Arab Emirates & Yemen.
Also read: Pakistan seeks support from Africa for global climate fund
