He expressed “searing pain and anguish” over the plight of the people of Gaza, saying “our hearts bleed as we witness the tragedy unfolding in the Holy Land, a tragedy that shakes the conscience of humanity.”
“Can we as a people remain silent while children are buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes? Can we turn a blind eye to the mothers who cradle the lifeless bodies of their children?” he asked, emphasizing that this is not just a conflict, but a “systematic slaughter of innocent people”.
He emphasized that it is not enough to condemn the conflict, but rather that immediate action must be taken towards a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders and full UN membership for Palestine.
Without such a solution, “(the current conflict) threatens to drag the entire Middle East into a war, the consequences of which could be serious and unimaginable.”
Pakistan’s prime minister compares the plight of the Palestinian people to that of Jammu and Kashmir, where they “have fought for their freedom and right to self-determination for a century.”
He underlined that since August 5, 2019, India has taken “unilateral illegal steps to impose what its leaders ominously call a ‘Final Solution’ for Jammu and Kashmir,” with 900,000 Indian troops terrorizing the people there through lengthy curfews, extrajudicial killings and kidnapping of thousands of young Kahmiris.
Commenting on the “massive expansion of its military capabilities, which are essentially deployed against Pakistan,” he asserted that “Pakistan will respond most decisively to any Indian aggression.”
On the growing impact of climate change, the Prime Minister said that although his country emits less than one percent of the world’s carbon, it has had to pay a very high price, including the $30 billion in damage from catastrophic floods two years ago .
“We must uphold the axiom: the polluter pays!” he declared.
Moreover, nearly a hundred developing countries are “trapped in a vicious circle of debt and liquidity crisis,” he said, calling it a “death trap” and recalling the Secretary General’s description of the international financial architecture as “morally bankrupt.” .
“Global trade and technology regimes must be reformed and aligned to promote development and global equality,” he said.
“We must carry with us a message for our people that the weak are not voiceless, that the oppressed must not lose hope, that poverty is not meant to be and that the Almighty’s promise of justice and equality must be respected in our only earthly home become!” he concluded.