Prime Minister Imran Khan talking about the challenges of climate change faced by the whole world including South Asia said that the fast melting Himalyan and Karakorum glaciers in the region were posing serious climatic problems for Pakistan, India and other regional countries.
He highlighted the importance of regional cooperation including between India and Pakistan to tackle the challenges of climate change by saying that since the two countries share borders, measures taken by one country alone cannot address the problem effectively.
The prime minister further said that with Pakistan getting water from Karakorum and Suleman ranges, Himalyia was the big source of water for India, which should take steps to protect the natural source for future generations.
Mentioning the business interests of India, which was using coal as a major fuel to generate power, he however, stressed that other sources of power-generation should be utilized to protect the region from climate change affects.
The prime minister said despite the fact that Pakistan was among the low-emission countries, it was taking several measures on climate change, which were being recognized and appreciated worldwide.
About international politics vis a vis South Asia, Imran Khan referred to the emerging blocks and the cold-war and maintained that Pakistan would not become part of any block and cold-war and would rather play a role to bring the countries closer.
He in that regard also mentioned Pakistan’s positive role for bringing closer the United States and China in the past and then also mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The prime minister praised the role of Institute of Strategic Studies in hosting and organizing important events and said Pakistan really needed such think-tanks to develop national narratives on various important issues through discussion and input from the scholars from across the world.
He regretted that some think-tanks in the US and West, without having the knowledge of and on-ground realities about important issues like religion and extremism, build opinions and gave their views about Pakistan.
The prime minister mentioned his decision about the establishment of Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority and said it was aimed at gathering religious scholars from across the world at one platform and build a true narrative and image of Islam for the world.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi in his remarks on the occasion presented Pakistan’s position on various issues of regional and international interest including the situation in Afghanistan.
He also mentioned the emerging humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and called for international efforts including through the platform of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to help and assist the Afghan people in this hour of need.