Statement
Statement summary
Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, described multilateralism as “the need of the hour”. While his country believes in the peaceful settlement of disputes, last May it confronted unprovoked aggression from its eastern front, resulting in seven Indian jets turned to scrap and dust. “Though in a position of strength, Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire facilitated by [United States] President Donald Trump,” he continued, recalling that Pakistan nominated Mr. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. “We have won the war and now we seek to win peace in our part of the world,” he emphasized, calling for a comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue with India on the outstanding issues of the Indus River and “the inseparable right of our 240 million people on these waters”. He expressed hope that Kashmir will gain its right to self-determination.
Turning to the plight of the Palestinian people, he said Israel's genocidal onslaught has unleashed unspeakable terror upon women and children, stressing that the smallest coffins are the heaviest to carry. “For I too carried the tiny coffin of a seven-year-old, Irtiza Abbas, during the recent confrontation with India,” he added, urging the world not to fail any child anywhere in the world. Israel's attack on Doha and its continued violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of numerous countries reflects its rogue behavior, he noted. “We also support all efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict in line with the UN Charter,” he said.
Stating that Pakistan has a direct stake in a peaceful Afghanistan whose interim Government must uphold human rights, including women's rights, he urged the Afghan Government to take effective action against terrorist groups and ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorism against any country. “There must be no space for hate speech, discrimination or violence against any person or against any religion,” he continued. “Hate-driven ideology, such as India's Hindutva-driven extremism, poses a danger to the entire world.”
On the climate crisis, he recalled that in 2022, Pakistan faced massive floods that cost $34 billion in losses. “This year again we are dealing with another mega-flood with thousands of villages washed away from the face of the earth, millions of people displaced,” he said, spotlighting that Pakistan contributes less than 1 per cent to global emissions annually. He praised all weather cooperation with China through the Belt and Road Initiative. “I admire the vision and foresight of President Xi Jinping, whose recently launched Global Governance Initiative, along with other global initiatives, offers a comprehensive framework for a more just, fair and inclusive development,” he stressed.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the United Nations General Assembly on Friday that the world faces “testing times” marked by conflict, terrorism, and climate change, while urging urgent action for peace in South Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
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Read also the UN News stories in Hindi and Urdu about the declaration made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan at the General Debate.
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“Our world is more complex today than ever before,” Mr. Sharif said, citing intensifying conflicts, violations of international law, and a climate crisis that “threatens our very survival.”
Multilateralism, he argued, was “no more an option – it is need of the hour.”
Prime Minister Sharif said that his country faced “unprovoked aggression” by India earlier this year.
Pakistan’s armed forces had repelled the attack with “stunning professionalism, bravery and acumen,” shooting down several Indian aircraft, he added. He praised US President Donald Trump for helping secure a ceasefire.
Dialogue with India
At the same time, Mr. Sharif also offered dialogue.
“Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive and result-oriented dialogue with India on all outstanding issues,” he said, warning that disputes over Kashmir and water resources remained volatile.
India’s alleged abeyance of the Indus Water Treaty, he added, “represents an act of war.”
Mr. Sharif pledged support for Kashmiris, saying Pakistan would “ardently defend” their rights and reiterated calls for a UN-supervised plebiscite.
“One day soon, inshallah [God willing], India’s tyranny in Kashmir will come to a grinding halt. They will gain its fundamental right to self-determination through an impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations,” he said.
Call for ceasefire in Gaza
On the Middle East, the Pakistani leader condemned what he called Israel’s “genocidal onslaught” in Gaza, describing the plight of Palestinian children as “one of the most heart-wrenching tragedies of our times.”
He called for an immediate ceasefire and reaffirmed Pakistan’s backing for an independent Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.
“Palestine can no longer remain under Israeli shackles. It must be liberated,” he declared.
The Pakistani leader also addressed broader global issues, including Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, where he voiced support for a peaceful resolution in line with the UN Charter.
On terrorism, he recalled Pakistan’s sacrifices, saying the country had lost 90,000 lives and $150 billion to extremist violence over two decades.
Mr. Sharif further described climate change as an existential challenge, pointing to recent catastrophic floods that displaced millions and caused tens of billions in losses. Despite being responsible for “less than one per cent of global emissions.”
Pakistan was bearing a disproportionate burden, he said, calling it “not fairness, not equality, not justice.”
Closing his address, Mr. Sharif vowed Pakistan would continue to stand for “peace, justice and development” through multilateral cooperation.
“Let this 80th anniversary not simply commemorate history,” he said. “Let us make history and chart a future for the next eight years, with these United Nations as enduring hope for look for global good.”
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Right of reply
The representative of Pakistan responded to “a State that cannot decide whether to masquerade as the world’s largest democracy or expose itself as the world’s largest factory of disinformation”. India, she said, has become the only country that practices State-sponsored terrorism as policy at home and abroad. Condemning that State’s “reign of terror in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir”, she affirmed that her country “is committed to peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and regional stability”. However, India has no license to “violate our territorial integrity and sovereignty and kill innocent civilians”, and if aggression is “imposed on us, we will respond”, she stressed.
>> Read also the UN News story in Hindi.
The representative of Pakistan described India’s remarks as an attempt to malign his country, yet completely devoid of factors. That country is not just a serial perpetrator of terrorism, but a regional bully that is holding South Asia hostage to its hegemonic designs and radical ideology. Its unlawful and reckless behaviour must not be ignored by the international community, he said.
The representative of Pakistan called it “utterly shameful that India stoops so low as to distort the very name” of a UN member. Such language reflects “neither maturity nor responsibility”, instead “exposing India’s pettiness on the world stage”, showing the world that it “has basically no substantive argument to offer” other than “cheap slurs”. India itself has been “implicated in supporting and sponsoring terrorist activities beyond its borders” - with intelligence operatives accused of “financing and directing groups which are engaged in sabotage, in targeted killings across the world” - exposing the duplicity of its counterterrorism claims.