Time for Muslims to recover glory, unity: Pak ex-envoy

He said this speaking at a seminar on 'Emerging Regional and Global Scenario: A Perspective from Iran' organized by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad.

Former Foreign Minister of Iran and Head of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Seyed Kamal Kharazi was the guest of honor on the occasion.

Throwing the light on the state of Muslim countries, Shamshad Ahmad Khan said that the Muslim world possesses about 80% of all energy resources and about 60% of all natural resources of the world, but constitutes to only 5% of the world’s total GDP.

Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia should work together join hands to provide the much-needed leadership for the Muslim world, he added.

He said that the 21st century will belong to who so ever makes the best use of its challenges and opportunities. 'Angels will not descend to help the Muslim world to solve its difficulties, they have to do it themselves.'

The analyst also said that emerging regional and global scenario today is marked by the challenges of diplomacy, constant power struggle, economic adventurism and discriminatory nuclear security order.

“Today there are wars of aggression, invasions in the name of self defense, military occupations, massacres and genocides and culture of religion based extremism and violence continue to define new world order.”

The former ambassador said what aggravates this is the growing inability of the world community to address these challenges with unity or seriousness of purpose. “There is no global consensus on major peace and security issues or how to address them.”

The speaker said that the United Nations had failed to stamp its authority by not playing any role to improve the situation in Kashmir and Palestine. 'Whereas Afghanistan and Syria were also burning, the UN was doing nothing in this regard.'

He said that people of the Middle East, Persian Gulf or South Asia are not fond of fighting wars, rather people of these region are victims of wars that have been imposed from outside.

Shamshad Ahmad Khan said Iran and Pakistan are confronted with common challenges and have to get together to overcome these challenges.

“Iran and Pakistan have shared a role to play in the region together; they will not be able to counter terrorism but promote peace and stability in the violate Persian Gulf region as well as in Afghanistan.”

The analyst said Iran and Pakistan both have direct stakes in peace in Afghanistan and added that Pakistan has fraternal relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Saying that Pakistan's participation in the Saudi-led military coalition was not against Iran, he added, instead the country’s involvement might help in making sure that no offensive measure was being taken by the alliance against Iran.

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