PM to highlight Kashmir, Afghan, global issues in UNGA address today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, during his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today (Friday), will present Pakistan’s perspective on various regional and international issues including Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing, Spokesperson Foreign Office Asim Iftikhar said, “Jammu and Kashmir will be one of the key areas of focus, besides the situation in Afghanistan, and other areas of common concern including combating Islamophobia, corruption and illicit financial flows, as well as climate change.”

He said that foreign minister in his ongoing interactions with diplomats in New York also highlighted the gravity of the human rights situation in IIOJK, shared the dossier on Indian human rights violations in IIOJK and underlined the need for urgent steps to bring an end to those violations, the spokesperson added. He said Pakistan would continue to engage with the interim authorities in Afghanistan.

Special Representatives of China, Russia and Pakistan were in Kabul recently. They highlighted the importance of close coordination to promote the shared objectives of a peaceful, stable, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan, he explained.

“We continue to urge the international community on the imperative of constructive engagement and timely mobilisation of humanitarian assistance, on which Pakistan itself has led from the front with additional food supplies sent to Afghanistan in recent days. Let me reiterate that ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan is a shared responsibility of the international community.”

US declines to include India in new security alliance

By News report

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the first in-person Quad Summit in Washington this week, the US has ruled out adding India or Japan to the new trilateral security partnership, which includes Australia and Britain.

Responding to a question if countries like India and Japan would be made part of the new security alliance to meet the challenges of the 21st century in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that there is no one else who will be involved in security in the Indo-Pacific. "The announcement of AUKUS last week was not meant to be an indication, and I think this is the message the president also sent to (French President Emmanuel) Macron, that there is no one else who will be involved in security in the Indo-Pacific," Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference on Wednesday, according to international media.

Last week on September 15, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson jointly announced the formation of the trilateral security alliance AUKUS.

The trilateral security alliance is being seen as an effort to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region. Under this new security partnership, Australia for the first time, would get a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The alliance will allow the US and the UK to provide Australia with the technology to develop nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.