Has PM’s UN speech failed to highlight Pakistan’s interests?

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently gave a speech at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. Among other issues, he appealed to the global community to help Pakistan overcome the monstrous climate catastrophe. He said that the purpose of his speech was to explain the scale and magnitude of the floods that have put one-third of Pakistan in a situation that “no one had seen in living memory”. However, according to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI’s) Vice Chairperson Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the PM’s address was a copy-paste of Imran Khan’s address in the UN back in 2019. This week Bol News talks to four leading experts on whether PM Shehbaz managed to highlight Pakistan’s issues in his UN speech or not.

Zafar Hilaly
Former ambassador

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) stated that Pakistan should be compensated for all the damage that has been caused by the unprecedented floods. How does he expect to be compensated? How will it be done? Why doesn’t he lay out some kind of a system? Why doesn’t he get the backing of the general assembly? He should have asked for an answer from the United Nations.

All these questions should have been appropriately framed. He should have said that we are being punished for the mistakes committed by other developed countries. We are producing less than one per cent of the global greenhouse gases that are the biggest contributors to climate change. If we compare the speeches of Imran Khan and Shehbaz, I must say that former premier made a very powerful speech against Islamophobia as it was a highly current issue at that time. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, declaring March 15 as the International Day to combat Islamophobia and Imran Khan played a vital role in this. Moreover, millions of people listened to Imran Khan’s speech while only a few thousand listened to Shehbaz’s speech. So you can see a clear difference. I think the international community has given aid because of the terrible floods and because the Americans like Shehbaz and they did not like Imran. Whether it is the prejudice towards Shehbaz or the destruction caused by floods, it is quite obvious that the Americans wanted the regime change and they did not like Imran.

The regime change brought one of their favourite families – the Sharifs. The point of the regime change was to bring one of the friendly governments and they did it. Although Shehbaz has no special standing in the international community, he is hardly known. Their family is not known for good reasons, they are not known for being great politicians, statesmen, leaders or developers. They are only known for unfortunate reasons. He was only reading from the paper and he read out what was given to him.

Asif Durrani
Former ambassador

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not say anything new in that speech, especially concerning the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). He was reading from the paper which exhibited that he was conveying the actual views of the government of Pakistan. So I think whenever you read from the text, you cannot commit any mistakes.

The former prime minister always had a habit of uttering things on his own which has caused embarrassment to Pakistan several times. So it is always important for our leaders to stick to the actual text to convey the policies and views of the government of Pakistan. There is no comparison between Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan’s speeches. Our leaders should never convey their personal views on public forums like United Nations, they should always stick to the country’s agenda. They are representing the country so they should stick to the issues. Now we have to wait for a response from the international community, it does not come immediately. There are 193 members of the United Nations. Every leader comes and speaks about the issues of their own country, human rights, economic situation, and bilateral issues or if they are facing any catastrophe like we are facing in Pakistan currently. So it is a ritual. The leaders come, deliver a speech and go, but it is important to have a proper policy statement. Speaking about the response from the world after Shehbaz Sharif’s speech,

I think United Nations will make an assessment. They have already appealed. The aid we will receive will be approximately $ 4 billion. We should not expect them to give us $40billon which has been currently assessed. Even if they give you this much money, it’s not going to be in cash but you have to lay out an appropriate spending plan. So the government must be asked whether they have a plan to spend the money on the rehabilitation projects or not.

M Alam Brohi
Former Ambassador

It was just a normal speech without highlighting any particular issue. There was nothing unique in that speech nor was it against the national interest of the country. If we compare this speech to the former prime minister’s speech, there is a huge difference. Imran Khan shed light on various significant issues like Islamophobia at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

He efficiently and confidently spoke like an international leader at the UN and his way of delivery and body language were excellent. Shehbaz Sharif lacked all these aforementioned qualities. His way of speaking has always been the same even at domestic forums. Whatever he mentioned at the UN, he has been talking about it since he came into power; like the economic crisis and debt issues. Although he did mention some regional and international issues like Kashmir and Palestine. I believe that this speech was written after the approval of the foreign office and its delegates. There was nothing off the track in that speech and everything was repeated. He did not highlight any new issues. Every person has a different perspective. The opposition will speak against Shehbaz but his supporters will speak in his favour. Although we should not compare this speech with Imran’s speech because Islamophobia was at its peak at that time, hence he spoke about it at the UN forum.

Pakistan was facing different problems during Imran’s tenure. However, currently, our country is in a serious crisis. One-third of the country is submerged in flood water and the major provinces like Sindh and Balochistan have been devastated, although there is a negligible contribution of Pakistan as far as climate change is concerned. So it is the sole responsibility of the international community like China, Canada, America and Europe to help us. But you can see the total donations we have received from them, it’s nothing compared to what we received previously. So Shehbaz should have sternly asked for compensation from all these countries at the UN. He should not have spoken as humbly as he spoke there. He should have made them realise their mistake.

Ghalib Iqbal
Former ambassador

Whenever a leader or a prime minister delivers a speech at the United Nations, it is not prepared by one person but by all the organisations and institutions and all those stakeholders have their input in it. So whoever speaks must speak on behalf of Pakistan. The speech is always delivered efficiently at the United Nations.

So it was a good speech because it was prepared by professionals and the prime minister delivered it as it was. He did try to highlight every issue but unfortunately, Pakistan is being seen with scepticism by the world and this is not good for us. The sooner we settle our internal turmoil the better it is for the country. We must try to improve the economic situation of the country as early as possible. It’s very difficult to get positive support from the world at the moment. When the former prime minister spoke at the United Nations, he spoke very well and he highlighted all the issues. He did not follow a written text and he was speaking from his heart. However, a speech is not the end of everything; it is the first step to implementing those policies that you have mentioned in the speech. There is no comparison between both speeches because that was a much better speech. But the question is, whether the international community is willing to support Pakistan or not. When Pakistan was affected by floods in 2010 and an earthquake in 2005, the world stepped forward on its own to help Pakistan. Why has the situation changed now? Not even your friendly neighbours are willing to support you right now. So something has gone wrong in our internal and domestic systems and that needs to be corrected. Things will get worse if it would not be rectified.

The leaders of the world have been delivering speeches at the UN from day one but were they able to resolve the Kashmir issue, the Palestine issue and several other issues? No. So in my opinion, a speech is a PR exercise in the UN. One needs to know the strength of their country. Until you showcase that strength in front of the world your country would not be able to gain a strong position. Our leaders need to clear their minds and decide what they need to do.