Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif may not have had any acolytes, fans or disciples to say what a wonderful speech he made to the United Nations General Assembly. His walkout when Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu would have provoked paroxysms if anyone else had carried it out. However, despite the lack of fanfare, Mr Sharif did draw an important comparison, between the Palestinian issue and the Kashmir issue. He did not take the comparison further in two important respects: first, that the two issues arose at the same time, in the years 1947 and 1948, and both have not been solved. Another important point is that both are the direct result of the international community turning a blind eye to them. In the case of Israel, the political influence of the Zionist lobby in the USA has translated to its blind support for Israel. That blind support has led to the present situation, where the Israelis have invaded the Gaza Strip are engaged in genocide, and are not even listening to the USA in its called for a ceasefire. Indeed, Israel now seems to be extending the war to Lebanon, with the bombing of Lebanon and the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrollah. India has also gotten away with murder, literally, in Indian Occupied Kashmir, because the USA and other Western powers refuse to do anything about its inhuman atrocities there. It should not be forgotten that Pakistan has always seen these as conjoined issues, which have a place on the UN agenda. The two-state solution, which Israel fervently denies, is as much inscribed in a UN resolution as the plebiscite to determine the will of the Kasmiri people, which India refuses to hold.
Apart from these two pressing issues, Mr Sharif also pointed out that climate justice was also necessary. It does seem unfair that while the world undergoes climate change because of the greed and even rapacity of developed industrial countries, the burden should fall on poor countries like Pakistan, and they have to pay the costs for developed countries’ extravagance.
Ironically, developed countries lend money to poor countries to deal with the impact of climate change, with the result that they have to face a fresh debt burden. Mr Sharif showed the Pakistan was engaged in the issues facing the world. Unfortunately, nations seem not bwe listening, as they pursue their individual goals.
