PM urges UN to play its role in addressing grave situation in IIOJK

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the United Nations to play its rightful role in addressing the grave situation in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and ensuring that Kashmiris exercise their right to self-determination promised to them in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. He was talking to President-elect of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir, who called on him in Islamabad Monday, according to a PM Office press statement. The Prime Minister highlighted the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian illegally occupied Kashmir since 5 August last year, as well as the ongoing gross and systematic violations of human rights of the Kashmiri people and the attempts to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory. During the meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan apprised the PGA-elect of the serious situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), an issue that was on agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades. He stressed that the UN must play its rightful role in addressing the grave situation and ensuring that Kashmiris exercise their right to self-determination promised to them in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.   The Prime Minister apprised the PGA-elect of his Government’s initiatives to mitigate and suppress the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, focused on saving lives, securing livelihoods, and stimulating the economy.  He informed that his Government deployed an $8 billion stimulus package for the poor and the needy. This was the highest social security coverage by any Government in the history of Pakistan. The Prime Minister further highlighted his call for ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’ and stressed the need to provide greater fiscal space to the developing countries to overcome deleterious socio-economic impacts of coronavirus pandemic.   The Prime Minister also highlighted the high importance he attached to addressing Climate Change, countering Islamophobia, and combatting illicit financial flows from developing countries. He expressed the hope that the 75th Session of the UNGA would accord priority to these issues, which affected billions around the world.