Home »General News » Pakistan » SCO conference: Kashmir dispute’s resolution must for region’s peace: Janjua
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Tuesday emphasized the need for resolution of Kashmir dispute for durable peace in the region, as she appreciated the role of international community in de-escalation of tension between Pakistan and India.

Speaking at a conference titled "Shanghai Cooperation Organization; Future Prospects and Regional Connectivity, organized by Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS), Janjua said that resolution of Kashmir dispute was indispensable for peace in the region.

She said Pakistan desired resolution of the lingering dispute of Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue and in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. Referring to the recent escalation in tension between Pakistan and India, the foreign secretary Pakistan being a responsible state, responded to India with determination, patience and responsibly in the post Pulwama situations.

She said Pakistan briefed the P5 [permanent five of UN Security Council] countries about Pakistan's position. She also referred to the steps taken by Pakistan to reduce the tension including returning back of high commissioners, resumption of the service of Samjhauta Express and the upcoming dialogue on Kartarpur Corridor on March 14.

She also appreciated the role of the world community in de-escalating tension between the two neighbouring countries. She said that development and prosperity was only possible through peace and stability in the region. She also stated that the upcoming elections in India could not determinate the future of the region.

Tehmina Janjua stated that the region was transforming from uni-polar to multi-polar world, with Russia and China being the significant players of the region. She stated that the demand and growth ration was very important for the interstate relations. She said Pakistan was playing important role in eliminating the menace of terrorism from the region.

For the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan, she said Pakistan had taken several peace inactivates and had taken US, China and Russia on board and had forced the international powers to initiate peace dialogues. She said that durable peace in Afghanistan was only possible through intra-Afghan dialogue, adding "Afghan people themselves have to decide their future and Pakistan is always ready to facilitate the Afghan peace and reconciliation process."

Referring to Eastern borders, she stated that Pakistan was currently facing the issue of drug trafficking and radicalization, but 'we have struggled hard to eliminates these factors successfully and have transformed Pakistan into a peaceful country and tourist destination'.

Zahoor Ahmed, Additional Secretary, National Coordinator of Pakistan for SCO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that in this ever-changing world, achieving peace, stability and prosperity was the main predicament which was solved by SCO.

He said SCO emerged as a natural platform and representative of 3.2 billion people and it formed a universal model and was not developed against any other country. He said SCO had a greater potential to forge strong ties between regional states and Pakistan could contribute to the SCO forum by sharing its experiences of fight against terrorism and being a significant part of the UN peacekeeping missions.

Maj Gen Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery (retd), President CGSS, in his address, stated "SCO is a powerful platform for partnerships to promote peace, to build mutual trust, and spur economic development for shared prosperity with the confidence that we would be able to change the world for the better."

Professor Sun Zhuangzhi - Director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, Central Asia Studies and Secretary General of Centre for Shanghai Cooperation Organization Study, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, stated that it was necessary to position the SCO as a new type of regional cooperation organization at the international level.

He said the expanded SCO should not change its current way and focus of work. The characteristic of SCO was to establish a new concept of cooperation and adhere to equality and mutual benefit and opening to the outside world, he added.

Dr Leonid Gusev, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Moscow, pointed out that since the very beginning of independence, the Central Asian republics had faced such a problem as ensuring regional and ethno-confessional security and the geopolitical situation in Central Asia was influenced by the political instability and conflict zones which could be resolved from the platform of SCO.

Bakhtiyor Mustafayev, head of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies (ISRS) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said that that positive experience had been achieved in jointly solving the intra-regional security problems in various fields.

He said it was important to determine the main areas of cooperation with regional and international organizations in the field of regional security. Barlybay Sadykov, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Pakistan, stated that SCO was emerging as one of the significant multilateral platforms in the region as it vowed to fight the real time challenges being faced by the member states.

Seitzhan Apyshev, Adviser to Director, National Institute for Strategic Studies of the Kyrgyz Republic (NISS KR), Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, said that cooperation in the field of culture was one of the most important activates of SCO as it helped to strengthen long-term good neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation between our traditionally close friends not only geographically, but also in spirit of peoples and countries.

Prof Elena Dostanko, head of Academic Affairs Unit, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus, stated that SCO was an organization which is aimed at achieving closer cooperation in the region. She pointed out that mega projects like CPEC, BRI and Eurasian economic region had huge potential for the economic stability of the region. That sectoral cooperation boosts the relations among regional states, she added.

Syed Majid Ghafelehbashi, senior research fellow, Institute of Political and International Studies (IPIS), Tehran, Iran, stated that like SCO, Iranian foreign policy was also focused at multilateralism and have an advancing neighborhood policy. Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi (retd), former Federal Minister of Defence, stated that there is need of geo-strategy for the flow of resources across the region. He said "through the platform of SCO we must promote positive and stronger image of Pakistan to defend ourselves."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019


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