Pakistan says appalled by sheer magnitude of Israeli aggression against Palestinians

Pakistan has condemned Israeli aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories at the forum of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Ambassador Aftab Ahmad Khokher, in a statement delivered at the 30th Session of CCPCJ reiterated Pakistan’s principle stance on the issue of Palestine.

Referring to the on-going Israeli aggression against Palestine, he said that Pakistan was appalled by the sheer magnitude of illegal, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force, tyranny and injustice being perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against defenseless Palestinians.

He said that the whole leadership, Parliament and people of Pakistan had condemned the Israeli aggression and expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine. Ambassador Khokher further expressed grave concern at the continuing expansion of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and on the recent episode of attacks on innocent worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

He reiterated Pakistan’s call to stop the aggression immediately and called for implementation of 2-state solution. Ambassador Khokher urged the Commission to play its role in stopping the Israeli heinous crimes against humanity that threatened regional and global peace, and to avert this humanitarian crisis.

Ambassador Khokher also pointed out towards the increase in incidents of hate crimes and hate speech motivated by discrimination based on ethnicity, culture, language and religion. He further emphasized that the abuse of freedom of expression have serious implications. He said that ridiculing the Holy Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH) cannot and should not be allowed in the name of freedom of expression.

He urged that CCPCJ should look at the issue as a form of crime to prevent discord and crime in the societies. He called on the international community to undertake legal and administrative measures to prevent such crime. Referring to fight against corruption, he said that Pakistan attached high priority to ending the menace of corruption. In that regard, he urged the international community to focus on the eradication of safe heaven’s for ill-gotten wealth across borders.

He said that global anti-corruption architecture, particularly asset recovery and return framework was confronted with barriers, gaps and challenges. He also said that return of ill-gotten money was critical to socio-economic development and achievement of SDGs. He said that international community should negotiate a new protocol on assets recovery and return framework under United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

Ambassador Khokher also highlighted that illegal migration was a serious issue and international community should focus on providing legal and safe avenues of migration in its fight against trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. He urged developed countries to remove barriers in the free movement of labour to reduce unemployment in developing countries. Ambassador Khokher said that cybercrime was the most cross-cutting and transnational challenge we are confronted with.

He further said that the recently established United Nations Ad-hoc Committee on Cybercrime would lead to successful negotiation of a global instrument to effectively address that challenge. Ambassador Khokher also shared the measures taken by Pakistan to prevent trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

He reiterated Pakistan’s firm resolve in its fight against crime and its commitment to effective international cooperation. The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice CCPCJ is a 40-member United Nations body. Pakistan has been recently elected as member of the Commission.