ISLAMABAD: At the United Nations, Pakistan has decried what it described as double standards in implementation of the international obligations to protect civilians and prevent crimes against humanity, an official statement said on Saturday.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, while speaking on Friday in the General Assembly debate on responsibility to protect and prevent crimes against humanity, called on the world body for the implementation of consistent and uniform standards and emphasized collective responsibility to prevent grave crimes.

“The tragic victims in occupied Jammu and Kashmir suffer the further indignity of living under an illegal occupation,” she declared.

Lodhi also referred to the grave situation in Palestine. Where the failure of the international community to uphold these norms has been “most manifest and telling.”

“The ‘will’ of the international community, in particular the permanent members of the Security Council, is crucial,” she said, adding that this was particularly important to address the issues of permissibility of actions and to ensure their consistency.

The Pakistani envoy said that if we are selective in our approach — expressing indignation at some transgressions while choosing to wilfully ignore others — any ‘norm’ will be quickly turned into mere ‘pretense’.

“Against this backdrop, calls for accountability would invariably smack of double standards and selectivity.

“We should neither attempt nor accept any artificial duality between the twin imperatives of legitimacy and legality,” she stressed.

Pakistan’s envoy also called for renewed commitment in helping states to build their capacity including through governance and judicial reforms, arguing that in a world beset by growing socio-economic inequalities, situations leading to responsibility to protect are more often than not the result of under-development and poverty.

“Long-term commitment by the international community, including mobilization of adequate resources for sustainable development and poverty eradication — as also reflected in the 2030 development agenda — is the best investment in prevention,”, she added.

“What is needed is a surge in diplomacy, not war, to achieve the goal of preventing grave crimes against humanity.”