Nawaz to hold out olive branch to India in UNGA address
September 24, 2015
The Kashmir issue will prominently figure in the address of the prime minister and he will put across meaningful proposals for normalisation of ties with India as far as relations with it are concerned. Pakistan isn’t disposed to seeking bilateral meeting of the prime ministers of the two countries due to the past Indian attitude.
The Kashmiri leaders will have an important meeting with Pakistan’s delegation on the brink of the upcoming UNGA Summit.
Highly-placed diplomatic sources told The News on condition of anonymity that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would play an important role in the deliberations taking place in the world body during its current session on international agenda items. Chances of a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart are bleak as Pakistan wouldn’t ask for such a meeting.
A meeting between Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani with NSA Sartaj Aziz in the UN cannot be ruled out. Pakistan will continue to support a negotiated settlement of the Afghan tangle.
Islamabad is willing to provide support to Afghanistan for the purpose but the decision lies with Kabul. Pakistan believes that a military solution wouldn’t be a desirable option for the Afghan situation. The sources revealed that important Afghans who were sympathisers of extremists of their country or members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) have started returning to their country in the wake of an obvious shuffle in the policy of Pakistan with regard to Afghanistan as Pakistan has made it amply clear that it wouldn’t fight the war of Afghanistan on its soil.
The sources pointed out that India has planned to make a massive effort through developing countries at the United Nations for introducing “reforms” in the UN of its choice including one to capture the permanent membership of the UN Security Council along with three other countries namely Brazil, Japan and Germany.
The Group of four (G-4) has lured some small countries for its motives but China, Russia and the US are opposed to the G-4 efforts due to their own reasons. Pakistan is hopeful that the efforts wouldn’t be crowned with success. India made similar attempts way back 10 years ago in 2005 when the world body was celebrating its 60th anniversary but the members frustrated the attempts. A large number of members of the United Nations are opposed to the existing veto power of five countries and they wouldn’t tolerate creation of new centres of privilege in the body.
The sources pointed out that the address of the prime minister in the UN would highlight Pakistan’s position on international issues including the cause of the people of Palestine and oppressed in other parts of the world.
This story first appeared in The News.
