FM shrugs off India’s expected election as UNSC member

Dawn
16 June 2020

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday sought to tamp down fears about India’s imminent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council saying “heavens would not fall”. In a televised statement, Mr Qureshi talked about the upcoming elections for five non-permanent members of the Security Council and addressed the concerns that India’s imminent election could pose challenges for Pakistan’s foreign policy. 

The elections are scheduled to be held on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York. Newly elected members would start their two-year tenure from January 1 next year. India, whose candidature has been endorsed by the Asia-Pacific Group, is all set to be elected. There is no other contestant from the regional group. However, for getting elected India would still require 129 votes, if all 193 members vote. 

If elected, it would be India’s eighth tenure at the Security Council as a non-permanent member.  Mr Qureshi recalled that Pakistan too has served seven terms on the Council and is planning to run for another term in future. 

Reminding that Indian actions were posing threat for the regional peace, Mr Qureshi said that he had written to the UN Secretary General and leaders of other forums over human rights violations in India, including the maltreatment of minorities especially the Muslim, the brutal repression of Kashmiris by the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir and its aggressive posture against neighbours. “Which of the Indian neighbour is happy with the actions of the Modi government,” Mr Qureshi asked. 

The world, he said, should see why India is not implementing UN resolutions on Kashmir and committing massive rights abuses. The foreign minister said that Pakistan was preparing its strategy to deal with India as a non-permanent member of UNSC for next two years while adhering to diplomatic traditions. 

Rejecting Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks at the ‘Jammu Jan Samvad rally’ via videoconferencing, FM Qureshi challenged him to allow Prime Minister Imran Khan or him (Qureshi) to visit Srinagar and see for himself how Kashmiris respond. He also offered Singh to visit Muzzafarabad and check people’s response. 

The foreign minister said that Kashmiris have been so disillusioned with India that no example of it could be found in the past seven decades. Singh had at the rally claimed that under PM Modi’s leadership, (Occupied) Jammu and Kashmir will touch great heights and people from Azad Kashmir will wish they were part of India.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more