UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called on the United Nations and the international community to act decisively in defense of the people of Palestine and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), warning that global inaction threatens the credibility of the international human rights system.
Speaking at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the world was witnessing an “erosion of the promise of human rights” as millions continued to live under foreign occupation, discrimination, and systemic injustice.
“At the foundation of the international human rights architecture lies the right to self-determination,” Ahmad said. “Yet, decades after its universal acceptance, millions remain deprived of this right — from Palestine to Kashmir.”
Kashmir and Palestine at the Heart of Pakistan’s UN Plea
Ahmad drew a direct parallel between the long-standing struggles of the Palestinian and Kashmiri peoples, both denied, he said, their internationally recognized right to self-determination.
He described the situation in Gaza as a “humanitarian catastrophe” that exposed the costs of the world’s failure to uphold this fundamental right, and renewed Pakistan’s call for the creation of an independent State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital.
Turning to (IIOJK) , Ahmad said the Kashmiri people had endured “seven decades of repression” and “intensified persecution” since India’s unilateral actions of August 2019, which revoked the region’s special status.
“Kashmiris continue to live under repression — denied freedoms, subjected to arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and demographic engineering,” he said. “Just like the Palestinians, they await the fulfillment of UN resolutions that guaranteed their right to self-determination.”
Ahmad urged the UN Security Council to uphold its own commitments and ensure accountability for ongoing violations in both territories. “If the international community fails the peoples of Palestine and Kashmir, the credibility of the global human rights system will remain gravely undermined,” he warned.
Rising Islamophobia and Weaponized Disinformation
The Pakistani envoy also spotlighted two trends he called “grave threats to human rights” — the rise of Islamophobia and the deliberate spread of disinformation.
He noted that Muslims across regions were facing “hate speech, discrimination, and attacks on their places of worship,” and that in some societies, Islamophobia had become “institutionalized.” Ahmad reminded the Assembly that Pakistan, on behalf of the OIC, had led the successful initiative to designate 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, and called for a UN Action Plan to counter it.
On disinformation, Ahmad said it was no longer a passive distortion of facts but “a weapon deployed to deflect scrutiny, malign communities, and delegitimize just struggles.” He highlighted Pakistan’s role in sponsoring the 2021 UN resolution on Countering Disinformation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, urging member states to operationalize it to ensure “truth, not propaganda, guides our global response.”
Rebalancing the Human Rights Agenda
Addressing broader global inequities, Ahmad said the world must correct the imbalance between political and civil rights on one hand and economic, social, and cultural rights on the other. Poverty, hunger, and exclusion, he argued, are not only violations of human rights but also drivers of instability and conflict.
“The right to development must be reaffirmed as universal and inalienable,” he said. “Only through a just international economic order can all peoples truly enjoy their human rights.”
He urged reform of international financial institutions and greater focus on development needs of the Global South to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to build resilience against climate shocks.
‘Freedom, Dignity, and Equality for All’
Concluding his address, Ahmad outlined a six-point framework for revitalizing the global human rights agenda:
- Full implementation of UN conventions and resolutions, including accountability for violations;
- Equal focus on economic, social, and cultural rights;
- Protection of civilians, especially women and children, in conflict zones;
- Responsible governance of digital technologies;
- Collective action against disinformation, hate speech, racism, and Islamophobia; and
- Affirmation of the universal right to development.
“The challenges before us are immense, but so are the opportunities,” Ahmad said. “We must reaffirm the Charter’s promise — that all peoples, everywhere, shall live in freedom, dignity, and equality.”
The ambassador’s remarks underline Pakistan’s consistent position at the UN: that global peace and justice cannot be achieved while the peoples of Kashmir and Palestine remain denied their right to self-determination, and that the international system must act to restore credibility to the cause of universal human rights.
