NEW YORK: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and highlighted the flooding crisis in Pakistan caused, urging world leaders to act now against climate change.

The prime minister said he had come to inform the world about the devastating super floods as Pakistan was  paying the dual cost of climate injustice, high global warming and inaction and one-third of the country was is in a situation that “no one had seen in living memory”.

“For 40 days and 40 nights, biblical flood poured on us. Even today, huge swathes of the country are still underwater. 33 million people including women, and children are at high risk of health hazards. More than 1,500 of my people have gone from the world including 400 children. Far more are in peril,” he said.

He noted that Pakistan had never seen such a devastating example of global warming.  “Life in Pakistan has changed forever. People were asking for reasons for the destruction caused. The undeniable truth is that the calamity has not been triggered by anything we have done,” he said.

“We had a monster monsoon. It was the monsoon on steroids as was described by the UN secretary-general. Pakistan emits less than 1 percent of greenhouse gases,” he added.

The prime minister said the impact on the health and wealth of Pakistan was beyond calculation at this point. “So my real worry is about the next stage of this challenge. When the cameras leave, and the story just shifts away to conflicts like Ukraine, will we be left alone to cope with a crisis we did not create?” he asked.

I have come to explain the scale and magnitude of climate catastrophe that has pushed one-third of the country under water – PM Shehbaz Sharif#PMShehbazAtUNGA pic.twitter.com/NZvkqKIrDw

— PML(N) (@pmln_org) September 23, 2022

He stated that the future was “dimmed by new fragility, lost homes, decimated livelihoods, deluged croplands, permanent food insecurity and exposure to uncertain futures”. He said 11 million people will be pushed further below the poverty line while others will drift to cramped urban shelters.

The prime minister said the government has mobilized all available resources towards the national relief efforts but the manpower and resources were totally overwhelmed.

“The question to raise here though is quite a simple one. Why are my people paying the price of such high global warming through no fault of their own. Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking at our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this,” he reiterated.

PM Shehbaz Sharif said the “dual costs of global inaction and climate injustice were having a crippling effect on both our treasury and our people.”

“It is high time we took a pause from the preoccupations of the 20th century to return to the challenges of the 21st. The entire definition of national security has changed today, and unless the leaders of the world come together to act now behind minimum agreed agenda, there will be no earth to fight wars. Nature will be fighting back and for that humanity is no match.”

He said Pakistan’s urgent priority was ensuring rapid economic growth and lift millions out of destitution and hunger which needs a stable external environment.

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“We must avoid another civil war in Afghanistan, or a rise in terrorism.

I call upon the world community to release funds to revive the economy of Afghanistan.

The world community must address their dire humanitarian situation.”
– PM @CMShehbaz #PMShehbazAtUNGA pic.twitter.com/iSIEQAuywJ

— PML(N) (@pmln_org) September 23, 2022

Regarding the regional situation, PM Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan seeks peace with all its neighbours, including India. However, he noted that sustainable peace and stability in South Asia remain contingent upon a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

He said India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5th August 2019 to change the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir undermined the prospects of peace and inflamed regional tensions.

“India’s relentless campaign of repression against Kashmiris has continued to grow in scale and intensity. It has ramped up its military deployments in occupied Jammu and Kashmir to 900,000 troops, thus making it the most militarized zone in the world.”

“The serial brutalization of Kashmiris takes many forms from extrajudicial killings, incarceration, custodial torture and death, indiscriminate use of force, deliberate targeting of Kashmiri youth with pellet guns, and ‘collective punishments’ imposed on entire communities.”

He said India was trying to turn the Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu-majority territory through illegal demographic changes.

He said Pakistan had always stood by its Kashmiris in complete solidarity and will continue to do so until their right to self-determination was fully realized in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. He said India must take credible steps to create enabling environment for constructive engagement.

Pakistan is a partner for peace.
We will work with all those committed to the UN Charter’s principles – to restore the vision which created the United Nations and to equip this Organization with the capacity to preserve global peace and promote universal prosperity.#PMPakatUNGA pic.twitter.com/WaWAqEzVkU

— PML(N) (@pmln_org) September 23, 2022

Afghanistan situation

Over the situation in Afghanistan, the prime minister said that 30 million Afghans were left without a functional economy and banking system that allowed ordinary Afghans to make a living to be able to build a better future.

He said Pakistan would like to see an “Afghanistan which is at peace with itself and the world, and which respects and nurtures all its citizens, without regard to gender, ethnicity and religion.”

He informed that Pakistan was working to encourage respect for the rights of Afghan girls and women to education and work. He said isolating the Afghan interim government could aggravate the suffering of the Afghan people while constructive engagement and economic support is more likely to secure a positive response.

He said a peaceful, prosperous, and connected Afghanistan is in our collective interest. He said Pakistan had a vital stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan and has also led humanitarian efforts to help the Afghan people.

“We must avoid another civil war, rising terrorism, drug trafficking or new refugees – which none of Afghanistan’s neighbours are in a position to accommodate,” he said

He urged the international community to respond to the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for $4.2 billion in humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan, and release financial reserves to revive its banking system.

Pakistan condemns terrorism

PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan shared the key concern of the international community regarding the threat posed by the major terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan, especially ISIL-K, TTP, Al-Qaeda, ETIM and IMU.

However, he said “they all need to be dealt with comprehensively, with the support and cooperation of the Interim Afghan authorities. In turn, the international community should address Afghanistan’s dire humanitarian needs.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz told the gathering of world leaders that Pakistan strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. “Terrorism does not have a religion. It is based on dogma, fueled by poverty, deprivation, injustice and ignorance, and fanned by vested interests,” he commented.

He said Pakistan yet continued to suffer terrorist attacks from across our borders, sponsored and financed by its regional adversary but the country was determined to defeat cross-border attacks.

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