P.M. Shehbaz Sharif addresses the general debate of the U.N. General Assembly’s 77th session. UN Photo—Cia Pak
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged the global community to come together and tackle the pressing issue of climate change, stressing that Pakistan was currently in the midst of unprecedented floods despite making negligible contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
“Why are my people paying the price of such high global warming through no fault of their own?” he questioned during an address to the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly. “Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking at our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this,” he stressed.
Lamenting that his “heart and mind” were still with Pakistan during its time of crisis even as he addressed global leaders, Sharif said “no words” could properly describe the state of shock of Pakistanis dealing with floods and a transformed landscape. “Life in Pakistan has changed forever,” he added.
Explaining that he had come to the U.N. to explain “first-hand” the scale and magnitude of the climate catastrophe that has left a third of Pakistan underwater, he said a “flood of biblical proportions” rained down on Pakistan for 40 days and 40 nights, “smashing centuries of weather records, challenging everything we knew about disaster, and how to manage it.” To this day, he emphasized, several parts of the country remain inundated, “submerged in an ocean of human suffering.”
Beyond the devastation of the floods, he warned, over 33 million were now at risk of additional “health hazards” due to water-borne diseases and malnutrition. “People in Pakistan ask why, why has this happened to them?” he said. “When global warming rips apart whole families and an entire country at this ferocious speed, it is time to ask why, and time to ask not what can be done but what MUST be done,” he emphasized, noting the “undeniable and inconvenient truth” was that the calamity was not of Pakistan’s making. “Our glaciers are melting fast, our forests are burning, and our heatwaves have crossed 53 degrees Celsius, making us the hottest place on the planet,” he said, adding this year’s floods were not an anomaly.
“Now, we live through an unprecedented monster monsoon. It is literally a monsoon on steroids, as the U.N. secretary general described it most befittingly. One thing is very clear: what happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan,” he warned, reiterating that Pakistan was among the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries despite emitting less than one percent of greenhouse gases. “It is, therefore, entirely reasonable to expect some approximation of justice for this loss and damage, not to mention building back better with resilience,” he said.
Thanking the U.N. chief and various “friendly” nations for visiting flood-hit areas, he said the time to talk about action against climate change had passed. He also voiced concern about the fate of flood victims once the waters recede. “My real worry is about the next stage of this challenge. When the cameras leave, and the story just shifts away to conflicts like the Ukraine, my question is, will we be left alone, to cope with a crisis we did not create?” he questioned.
Regional peace
The prime minister also used his debut speech to once again offer peace to neighboring India, stressing this was necessary for regional stability. He said Pakistan’s urgent priority at this stage was to achieve rapid economic growth and lift millions out of poverty. “We look for peace with all our neighbors, including India. Sustainable peace and stability in South Asia, however, remains contingent upon a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said, as he called on Delhi to reverse the unilateral abrogation of Kashmir’s special constitutional status; stop trying to alter the region’s demographics; and ensure the inalienable right of self-determination to the people of held Kashmir.
Hoping the U.N. and its chief António Guterres would play their role in urging India to implement U.N. resolutions, he vowed that Pakistan would stand by Kashmiris “until their right to self-determination is fully realized in accordance with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
On Afghanistan, Sharif said Pakistan wished to see peace in its neighbor, with equal rights for all its citizens. However, he urged the world to avoid isolating the interim Taliban government because it could lead to further suffering for the Afghan people. “Constructive engagement and economic support are more likely to secure a positive response,” he said, adding a peaceful, prosperous, and connected Afghanistan was in everyone’s interest, as was ensuring all major terrorist groups operating from the country were eradicated.
The prime minister also spoke about Palestinian rights and Islamophobia, regretting that the Indian government was running an “officially sponsored campaign” of oppression against its 200 million Muslim population.