PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s virtual address at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has been widely hailed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where experts of international relations, politicians and defense analysts highly praised his bold stand on issues of Afghanistan, Illegally Indian Occupied Jummu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Islamophobia, COVID-19 and climate change.
Appreciating Prime Minister Imran Khan address, Professor Dr Khurshid Ahmed, International Relations, University of Peshawar told APP on Sunday that the premier has bold highlighted the Afghanistan situation and the looming humanitarian and economic crisis besides security challenges there.
Following ceasing inflow of capital, foreign aid, investment and above all freezing of bank accounts, he said the Afghans economy was in tatters with its people eying up towards urgent assistance by the international community to avert the looming economic and humanitarian crisis.
Dr Khurshid said Afghanistan was on the historic crossroads today and it was up to the international community including the US and regional countries whether they see Afghanistan a progressing, stable and prosperous state with strong economy or a state of chaos, infighting and epicenter of terrorism.
He said Afghans economy was heavily dependent on foreign aid and assistance from donor countries that received severe jolts following the US chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan economy is mostly fragile. Over 60 percent of the Afghans’ economy fed through foreign aid that was recently stopped and about USD 9.5 billion bank accounts of Afghanistan stand frozen adding to social economic woes of million of poor Afghans,” said Dr Khurshid Ahmed.
“This huge amount was meant for Afghanistan and its people have the right on it,” he said, adding the Afghan Government was facing financial constraints to meet cash demands of the people due to freezing of its accounts.
He said if these accounts were not reopened immediately there was a possibility of a serious humanitarian crisis of starvation, hunger and malnutrition of children and lactating mothers in Afghanistan and the whole responsibility would be on the international community.
He supported Prime Minister Imran Khan view point that a destabilized and financially poor Afghanistan could again emerge as a safe haven for international terrorists and urged the world for measures to strengthen its government for the people of Afghanistan.
Dr Khurshid said Afghanistan was passing through a critical time and financial support was urgently required for Afghan people to live in peace with adequate food, shelter, education and healthcare services.
Brigadier (Retd) Mehmood Shah, former Secretary Law and Order (Merged Areas) and senior defense analyst said Prime Minister Imran Khan has boldly highlighted human rights abuses and violations of international human rights laws including 4th Geneva Convention in the Illegally Indian Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK).
He said the Prime Minister has rightly said that India’s unlawful actions in IIOJK amounted to “war crimes” and the “crimes against humanity” and regretted the world’s “selective” approach to protect its corporate interests.
He said India had undertaken a series of illegal and unilateral measures in IIOJK since August 5, 2019 and unleashed a reign of terror by the Indian occupational force of 900,000, jailed senior Kashmiri leadership and imposed a clampdown on media and the internet.
The abduction of 13,000 young Kashmiris, extra-judicial killing of hundreds of innocent Kashmiris in fake encounters, extra judicial killings and collective punishments by destroying entire neighbourhoods and villages had exposed the ugle face of the fascist RSS-BJP regime.
Brigadier Mehmood said the most recent example of Indian barbarity was the forcible snatching of the mortal remains of the great Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani from his family, denying him a proper Islamic funeral and burial.
Indian actions violate the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir. The resolutions clearly states that the “final disposition” of the disputed territory should be decided by its people, through a free and impartial plebiscite held under the UN auspices.
Regarding Islamophobia, he said the Prime Minister Imran Khan has underlined the need for collective efforts to fight the emerging threats in the form of Islamophobia and urged a global dialogue to counter its rise while promoting interfaith harmony.
He said the worst and most pervasive form of Islamophobia now rules India and the hate-filled ‘Hindutva’ ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime, has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India’s 200 million-strong Muslim community.
The mob lynching by cow vigilantes; frequent pogroms, such as the one in New Delhi last year; discriminatory citizenship laws to purge India of Muslims; and a campaign to destroy mosques across India and obliterate its Muslim heritage and history, are all part of this criminal enterprise.
Terming Prime Minister speech historic and wide ranging, Mohibullah Khan, Provincial Agriculture Minister said the premier has accurately raised the issue of corruption and illicit financial flows from developing countries.
The PM has accurately mentioned the calculations of Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI) that a staggering seven trillion dollars in stolen assets were parked in the financial “haven” destinations.
The Minister said this organized theft, illegal transfer of assets have a serious consequences for the developing nations and undermined progress and development of poor countries.
Highly appreciating the Prime Minister address, Syed Ishtiaq Urmar, Provincial Minister for Environment and Forest said our Prime Minister has comprehensively appraised the international community about the climate change challenges and his government landmark programs to combat it despite the fact that Pakistan’s contribution to global emissions was negligible.
Pakistan has embarked upon game-changing environmental programmes including reforesting Pakistan through 10 billion tree tsunami; preserving natural habitats; switching to renewable energy; removing pollution from cities; and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
The Minister said over 1.208 billion trees have been planted under first phase of billion trees tsunami project (BTAP 2014-17) and nearly 500 million under 10BTAP by August 30.
He said PTI Government strategy of ‘smart lockdowns’ helped save both lives and livelihoods and kept the economy afloat.
To get rid of COVID-19, he said the Prime Minister his rightly suggested adaptation of a three-point comprehensive strategy including vaccine equity, availability of adequate financing to developing countries through comprehensive debt restructuring; provision of climate finance and adaptation of clear investment strategies that help alleviate poverty, promote job creation, build sustainable infrastructure and bridge the digital divide.
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