UN completely helpless on Palestine and Gaza genocide: Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad: PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the way Israel has usurped the land of the Palestinians, it seems that the United Nations is sitting completely helpless and the resolutions passed by them are not being implemented.

"The sad thing is that this situation continues despite the resolutions, they are doing the whole thing very brazenly, they don't care which resolution is passed and the UN doesn't seem to care either," he said while addressing the All Parties Conference (APC) to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine in the federal capital.

Sharif said that the United Nations was a large global body which failed to implement its resolutions as even on Kashmir the UN resolutions had not been implemented to date. "What is the use of such a United Nations which cannot give justice to the world," he opined. "Where there is injustice, it cannot be stopped and the perpetrators of injustice run rampant."

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who hosted the conference, also spoke.

Political leaders of various parties, including PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, ANP Chief Aimal Wali Khan, Khalid Magsi of Balochistan Awami Party, MQM leader Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, PML-Zia Ijazul Haq, former caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, and Abdul Aleem Khan of Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party attended the conference.

President Asif Ali Zardari, in his opening remarks, expressed deep concerns over the growing Israeli adventurism in the region and the escalation of tension, calling for the international community’s role to take swift action to restore peace and prevent conflict from spilling over.

Zardari said that during the last year, the Israeli occupation forces had killed over 41,800 Palestinians besides destroying the infrastructure.

The moot was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chairman of Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, federal cabinet members, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamat-e-Islami Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and leaders of other mainstream political parties.

The president said that Israel had even expanded its relentless attacks to target Lebanon, Syria and Yemen and endangered regional and global peace and security.

He said that regrettably, the international community had failed to stop Israel from committing genocide against the Palestinian population, specifically in Gaza and also questioned the prevailing situation of impunity.

President Zardari said that it was crucial for the international community to take swift action to de-escalate the tension and prevent further loss of lives and conflict from spilling over to other parts of the region.

He also emphasised the UN Security Council to fulfill its responsibility of establishing peace and security in Palestine and Lebanon and reiterated Pakistan’s decades-old stance for a two-state solution by establishing an independent Palestine state on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds as its capital.

President Zardari stressed that peace in the Middle East could not be achieved without resolving the Palestine issue in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.

Calling for a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestine, he also asked the UNSC to restrain Israel from violation of international laws to restore peace in the Middle East.

The president reiterated Pakistan’s position of total withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Arab territories including Jerusalem and restoring the inalienable right of Palestinian people to self-determination.