Gaza ceasefire: UN’s failure to adopt resolution disappoints Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed its deep disappointment at the UN Security Council’s continued failure to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, following the United States vetoed the Council’s resolution for the purpose.

The resolution moved by the UAE calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, although 13 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council voted in its favour and the United Kingdom abstained, was vetoed by the US late on Friday.

The desperate effort to call the UN Security Council’s meeting was made by the UN Secretary General António Guterres who warned that if not stopped now, the fighting in Gaza would endanger the world peace and destabilise the Middle East.

US tells UN it does not support call for Gaza ceasefire

“Pakistan is deeply disappointed that the UN Security Council has once again failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, even in the face of a human tragedy of epic proportions taking place there,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Saturday.

Despite the invocation of Article-99 of the UN Charter by the Secretary-General and his warnings of humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, she added that the Council has failed to perform its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security. “The collective punishment endured by the besieged people of Gaza is unprecedented and unacceptable,” she said.

She added that the continuation of Israel’s campaign in occupied Palestine will prolong human suffering, with massive civilian casualties and forced displacement of millions of people. “It could also trigger a wider and more dangerous conflict,” she warned.

She underlined that a heavy responsibility rests on all who have contributed to the prolongation of uninterrupted bombing of the people of Gaza. “Pakistan reiterates its call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” she said.

She added that Israel must end its barbaric attacks and inhumane siege against Gaza. “We urge the UN Security Council to act now, end this inhuman war and protect the people of Gaza from an impending genocide,” she added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023