The Prime Minister’s recorded address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday was a sombre reminder of the many challenges faced by the international community in the wake of the covid crisis, the resulting economic downturn and the climate emergency.
PM Imran Khan brought these issues to light, but importantly also provided policy measures on how to best resolve these issues in the larger interest of the global population. For covid, the significance of vaccine equity was highlighted, without which there can never truly be an end to coronavirus. Similarly, the PM explained how financial stability in the aftermath of covid was possible through the redistribution of unutilised Special Drawing Rights and funding for climate action; both steps would help developing countries in the short and long run.
Kashmir and the state-sponsored marginalisation of Muslims in India was also a significant talking point within the address. The Prime Minister minced no words in highlighting how the Indian government was orchestrating a campaign to ensure that Kashmiri Muslims specifically, and Indian Muslims in general were at constant threat from both citizens and state apparatus through a concerted campaign.
Beyond these and other expected themes in the address, such as corruption and right wing extremism and Islamophobia, the Prime Minister focused on the Afghanistan crisis and engagement with the interim Taliban government. As a neighbouring country very much aware of the rapidly escalating crisis in Afghanistan, it was important for PM Khan to remind the world of its responsibility to the people it left behind in the country. While the western community may not understand this, the interim government will need to be brought into confidence if aid is to be provided and structures rebuilt in Afghanistan.
This address, like the one in the previous year, was helpful because the Prime Minister did not shy away from speaking strongly about our core interests in both the region and beyond. There is never an expectation that one speech will lead to a change in attitudes, but the address helps lay the groundwork for future conversations with other states. Over the next year, we are likely to see these issues come to the forefront in our diplomatic overtures.​
Source: Published in The Nation