|
|
Mr. President,
While the world continues to witness violence, confrontation and resultant sufferings caused by the long standing political and territorial disputes, new obstacles to peace have emerged in the shape of divisive policies or ideologies and their pursuance through violent means including terrorism. Economic sufferings caused by the continuing global financial crisis have further shrunk the space for accommodation and understanding among peoples.
In the face of such discord and division, today’s agenda item is a reminder of the importance of maintaining a “Culture of Peace”, which was the motivation behind establishing this organization. The Charter of this organization enunciated the principles of practicing tolerance and living together in peace with one another as good neighbours, uniting our strengths to maintain international peace and security, and promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.
The General Assembly adopted the Declaration on a Culture of Peace on 13 September 1999 and reaffirmed to continue to work for achieving the laudable goal of peaceful co-existence. In line with the UN Charter, the Declaration is based on the principles of multilateral cooperation, respect for life, promotion and practice of non-violence through education, dialogue and cooperation, and commitment to peaceful settlement of disputes.
Mr. President,
All religions and cultures share a common set of universal values. Peace, tolerance, equality, sharing and respect for humanity is the core message of all world religions. Religion and culture, therefore, must not be allowed to become a source of division. We must cherish the unity and indivisibility of human race and all mankind no matter to what religion or particular culture we belong to.
Islam is a religion of peace even by its nomenclature. It is tolerant of other religions and cultures and internally tolerant of dissent.
Unfortunately though there remain those in this world who thrive in chaos, drawing power by putting thought against thought, faith against faith and people against people. Hate speeches against religions are rampant. This only incites violence. Pakistan rejects such divisive policies, trends and practices and has joined all efforts and forums aimed at uniting us as one human race that shares a common set of values promoting universal application of all human rights for all in a non discriminatory and non selective manner.
Mr. President,
The world needs to stand together to decry those who would use religion to advance a rigid and extremist political agenda. We must use religion as a bridge, bringing nations together, not as a wall keeping nations apart. It is, therefore, critical that we undertake the task of building upon faith as a means of finding common ground between different nations and civilizations.
It was this principle that caused Pakistan and the Philippines to be the original co-sponsors of the General Assembly resolution on “Promotion of Inter-Religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace.” As in the past, the resolution will be presented again this year and I am confident that like in the previous sessions, it will be endorsed unanimously by the General Assembly.
This resolution stresses the need to promote inter-religious dialogue from the grass root levels to address unfounded misperceptions that result in divisiveness, intolerance and violence. We are happy to note that this was also one of the important conclusions emerging from the range of activities organized during this International Year of Rapprochement.
In an effort to promote this noble cause Pakistan together with Philippines also co-sponsored the 7th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Meeting on Interfaith dialogue in Manila, this month that helped highlighting the ongoing challenges and the need to address these through enhanced interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
We also welcome the report of the Secretary General on the subject that appropriately highlights the important and cross cutting nature of the work in fostering a culture of peace and efforts made in this regard by a wide range of stakeholders including the Civil Society.
Mr. President,
Pakistan fully recognizes the need for promoting religious and cultural harmony and has taken several important initiatives to that end. There are interfaith committees at every district level with representation from all religions to promote greater understanding, peace and harmony among the followers of different religions. We have also created Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Foundation to expressly promote and encourage dialogue, inclusion and exchange.
Promotion of a culture of peace and avoiding conflict is not an easy task. This can only be avoided by understanding, sharing, sacrifice and dialogue among parties concerned. The challenge we face every day is to replace fear with acceptance, harassment with tolerance, and hatred with respect and understanding. Cooperation, and not the clash of civilizations, must be the paradigm for our collective endeavours.
To make the world a better place for our children, we all share the responsibility to highlight and propagate our common values of peace, tolerance, equality, sharing and respect for humanity. We should be encouraging the successor generation, those who will lead after us, to use education and exchange not only to adapt to modernity, but to use modernity and technology to change the world in a better and peaceful place for all.
I thank you Mr. President.