PM Imran laments rise of authoritarian regimes in UNGA address
Prime Minister Imran Khan is delivering a virtual address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today.
In his address, the prime minister shone a light on the country’s efforts to curb the coronavirus and noted that Pakistan’s response was recognised as one of the “success stories” in controlling the disease.
“However, we are still not out of the woods like no country is out of the woods today,” said Prime Minister Imran, adding that from the outset of the pandemic, developing countries were at a disadvantage due to lack of fiscal resources.
He also directed UNGA’s attention towards money laundering and corruption by the elite of developing countries who stash their wealth in tax havens in developed countries.
Since they are beneficiaries, there is a lack of political will in the rich countries to curb this criminal activity,” he declared and added that if money launderers were provided with sanctuaries, the gulf between poor and rich countries will continue to grow and may lead to a bigger challenge than the current migration crisis.
The prime minister lamented that global community should have come together to combat the novel coronavirus, it had instead stoked racism and religious hatred. Islamophobia was rising in several countries, he said, adding that Muslims were being killed with , mosques were being desecrated and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was being insulted “in the name of freedom of speech”.
He also warned that India had “upped its military ante” against Pakistan in order to divert attention from its domestic problems. The premier once again directed the world community’s attention towards the human rights violations by the Indian government in occupied Kashmir.
The prime minister also spoke about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and said that Pakistan supported a solution in line with UN resolutions Dawn reported.
