UNITED NATIONS
\nAs tensions escalate in the Middle East, a senior Pakistani diplomat told the UN Security Council that Pakistan is playing an active role in encouraging all parties to cease hostilities and move towards peaceful resolution of the issues in the region.
\n\u201cTogether with other partners, Pakistan is actively engaged in promoting this objective,\u201d Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said in a debate on the situation in the Middle East held ion Tuesday.
\nThe region, he pointed out, stands at a perilous crossroad, with risk of wider conflagration and far-reaching consequences.
\n\u201cAgainst this already dire backdrop, further escalation must be avoided at all costs,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said, adding, \u201cWe call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.\u201d
\nThe ambassador\u2019s statement followed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s announcement in Islamabad that Pakistan was \u201cready\u201d to host \u201cmeaningful and conclusive\u201d talks between the US and Iran for a \u201ccomprehensive settlement\u201d to end the war in the Middle East,
\nAt the outset, Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, focused on UNSC resolution 2334 (2016), which, among others, demanded that Israel cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, while Nickolay Mladenov, High Representative for Gaza on President Donald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, outlined the implementation of UNSC resolution 2803 (2025), which endorsed the United States\u2019s \u201cComprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict\u201d and welcomed the establishment of the Board as a \u201ctransitional governance administration\u201d in Gaza.
\nIn his remarks, Ambassador Asim Ahmad highlighted that the unresolved Palestinian question remains at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, perpetuating instability, shaping dynamics, fueling grievances, and undermining prospects for a just and lasting peace.
\n\u201cThe Palestinian people continue to endure illegal occupation, dispossession, systemic violence, and the denial of their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination,\u201d he said.
\nOver the past two years, their suffering had reached unprecedented levels, particularly in Gaza\u2013where more than 71,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and now violence had also intensified in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the last couple of years.
\nReferring to the recent wave of Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, he said masked groups set fire to homes, burned mosques, destroyed vehicles and injured dozens of civilians.
\n\u201cAs the occupying power, Israel bears legal obligation under international law to protect Palestinian civilians,\u201d he said, adding,\u201dThat obligation is being violated with impunity.\u201d
\nThe High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, and the General Assembly\u2019s endorsement of the New York Declaration last year, \u201cestablished a multilateral pathway\u201d to a Palestinian State, the Pakistani envoy recalled.
\nEfforts by President Trump, supported by Arab and OIC countries, advanced the Peace Plan and facilitated the Sharm El-Sheikh Summit, mobilizing regional and international actors around some key and urgent priorities: ending the bloodshed, achieving a permanent ceasefire, responding to the humanitarian catastrophe, reuniting families with detainees and hostages, and reopening a credible political process towards Palestinian self-determination and statehood, Ambassador Asim Ahmad said.
\nThe formation of the Executive Board for Gaza under the Board of Peace and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and the appointment of the High Representative, are \u201cpositive steps.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS As tensions escalate in the Middle East, a senior Pakistani diplomat told the UN Security Council that Pakistan is playing an active role in encouraging all parties to cease hostilities and move towards peaceful resolution of the issues in the region. \u201cTogether with other partners, Pakistan is actively engaged in promoting this objective,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n