ISLAMABAD: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, during his telephone conversation with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday, reaffirmed his commitment to continued engagement with both Pakistan and India to advance peace and stability in the region.
During the telephone conversation, the UN chief and PM Shehbaz exchanged views on the situation in South Asia. This was the third phone call between the two leaders in the last two weeks.
The UN chief welcomed the ceasefire understanding between Pakistan and India. He also expressed condolences to PM Shehbaz over the loss of civilian lives. He said it was his duty to work for the promotion of international peace, which was needed by the world.
The Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation for Secretary-General Guterres’s leadership and diplomatic efforts to defuse the tense situation in South Asia that had been “gravely endangered by India’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Pakistan”.
PM Shehbaz said that the Secretary-General’s continued engagement and preventive diplomacy demonstrated his enduring commitment to the protection of the UN Charter’s principles and purposes, as well as to fostering peace in South Asia.
Pakistan’s resolve for peace in South Asia
The Prime Minister noted that Pakistan had agreed to the ceasefire understanding with India in the larger interest of peace in the region. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong resolve to promote peace in South Asia, while defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs.
PM Shehbaz denounced “India’s aggression on the false pretext of terrorism”, while characterising it as a “dangerous precedent” of which the international community should take due cognisance.
The Prime Minister also expressed concerns over the continued provocative and inflammatory remarks by the Indian leadership, as a threat to the fragile regional peace.
He emphasised that the just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, was imperative to ensuring durable peace in South Asia. He urged the Secretary General to play his role in the just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
‘Potential nuclear war’
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump reiterated the claim that his administration had helped broker peace between India and Pakistan to avert a “potential nuclear war” between the two South Asian countries, which he said could have killed millions.
“I think they are actually getting along. Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco [Rubio],” he said, while speaking about the two nuclear-armed neighbours at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh.
“Where they [Pak-India] go out and have a nice dinner together,” the US president added. He said that he “used trade to a large extent” for the ceasefire.
“Let’s not trade nuclear missiles”
“And I said, fellas, come on, let’s make a deal. Let’s do some trading. Let’s not trade nuclear missiles. Let’s trade the things that you make so beautifully,” Trump said.
