ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani diplomat at the United Nations called for an end to the longstanding American economic restrictions on Cuba, emphasizing that the step would enhance quality of life in the Caribbean nation as the global body condemned the embargo for the 32nd consecutive year.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted 187-2 in favor of lifting the sanctions, with only the US and Israel opposing the resolution, alongside one abstention in the 193-member body.
Tensions between the US and Cuba escalated in the 1960s, following Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government’s decision to nationalize American-owned assets without compensation.
This led to US embargo as Washington aimed to isolate Cuba economically and politically, pressuring its government to carry out democratic reforms and curtail alignment with the former Soviet Union.
“Pakistan maintains that the imposition of unilateral economic measures is counterproductive and inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” an official statement quoted the deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, as saying during the debate.
The statement said the Pakistani diplomat highlighted the rights of the people of Cuba to their own means of subsistence, especially food and medicine, adding that “ending the embargo would be a significant step toward improving the quality of life for the Cuban people, and will help Cuba advance on the path toward sustainable development.”
Ambassador Jadoon also expressed a deep concern on the impact that the economic, financial and commercial embargo has had on Cuba and its people.
He reiterated Pakistan’s “unwavering commitment to multilateralism,” saying his country believed in the fundamental principles of sovereign equality, non-interference and non-intervention, as enshrined in the UN Charter.
