Pakistan, along with China and India, was among 35 countries that abstained from voting on a resolution demanding immediate Russian withdrawal from Ukraine. New Zealand and Japan led the condemnation from Asia.
Pakistan urged for dialogue and de-escalation
Despite rising pressure from the West to condemn Kremlin’s attack on Ukraine, Pakistan’s permanent representative at United Nations Munir Akram delivered a carefully-worded speech at the emergency session of the General Assembly on Wednesday, urging for dialogue and de-escalation.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan has regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine, and said that Pakistan had hoped that diplomacy could avert military conflict,” he said. “We have since repeatedly stressed the need for de-escalation, renewed negotiations, sustained dialogue, and continuous diplomacy,” Munir Akram further said.
The UNGA emergency session
The session of the UN General Assembly that started on Feb. 28 was the first emergency sitting of the 193-member body in more than two decades and just the 7th in the 77-year history of the United Nations. During the debate, China stressed that the world had “nothing to gain” from a new Cold War.
Countries that voted against the resolution:
Only five countries voted against the resolution. The countries include:
- Russia
- Eritrea
- North Korea
- Syria
- Belarus
Russia pleads “self defence”
Moscow has pleaded “self-defense” under Article 51 of the UN Charter but the Western countries roundly rejected the stance accusing the Kremlin of violating Article 2 of the Charter, which demands UN members to refrain from the threat or use of power to resolve a conflict.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Russia had launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, when Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin. Russian forces have yet to overthrow the government in Kyiv but thousands are reported to have died or been injured and more than a million people have fled Ukraine amid the biggest attack on a European state since 1945.