UNITED NATIONS: United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, responding to a query about the recent attacks against Muslims and Christians in India, said on Wednesday that religious hatred was “totally unacceptable”.
The UN chief, back from his visit to New Delhi for the G20 leaders’ summit, was asked by a Pakistani reporter whether, in light of the meeting’s declaration, which deplored all acts of religious hatred, he raised with the Indian government the recent violence against the minorities by Hindu extremists in India.
The secretary-general said that he had no meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There was no bilateral meeting during the gathering. “But”, he added, the UN position is clear: Religious intolerance is a violation of human rights that is totally unacceptable.
In his opening remarks, the UN secretary-general had a clear message for world leaders arriving in New York next week, saying that this is not a time for posturing or positioning.
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar will be among over one hundred world leaders attending the debate.
UN Chief Seeks Practical Solution to Issues
The UN chief said that action is what the world needs. This is not a time for indecision or indifference. This is a time to come together for real and practical solutions.
He started his remarks by reflecting on the thousands of deaths in Libya and Morocco in recent days.
The UN chief said that the United Nations is mobilizing to support relief efforts. The UN works in any and every way it can with partners to help get emergency aid to those who so desperately need it.
