Pakistan urges UN to keep focusing on flood devastation

Mian Jehangir Iqbal said Pakistan's needs were enormous and hoped that the international community would provide assistance in a big way as Pakistan goes ahead with the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. — File Photo

UNITED NATIONS: A Pakistani delegate Wednesday urged United Nations' machinery to keep up its “great work” in creating awareness among member states about the massive destruction wrought by floods in Pakistan that required global help for recovery.

Speaking in the General Assembly's Fourth Committee, which deals with special political and decolonization questions, Mian Jehangir Iqbal, press counselor at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, thanked the UN Department of Pubic Information (DPI) for the extensive coverage given to the disaster that led to timely international aid for the millions of displaced persons.


But he said Pakistan's needs were enormous and hoped that the international community would provide assistance in a big way as Pakistan goes ahead with the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. The Pakistani delegate, who was participating in a debate on information questions, said that information and communication were best used to bridge different cultures and religions.

The Department's most important task was to reach the widest possible audiences to project United Nations ideals and maintain coherence in the overall message. Hailing the Department's coverage of United Nations reform, among other issues, Iqbal expressed confidence that it would use all available tools to maximize the impact of its message.

He strongly urged that United Nations Information Centres be strengthened in developing countries, and that adequate resources be allocated to ensure their effective functioning.

To secure rent-free premises for those Centres, it was important to keep in mind the economic conditions in the host countries.

The Pakistani delegate welcomed the publication of information materials and translation of important documents into languages other than the United Nations official languages, as well as creating websites in local languages. Finally, he stressed that freedom of expression was a universal right to be promoted and protected; it should not be abused.

The Committee had a central role in ensuring that public information policies were created with a view to forging respect among peoples.The Pakistani delegate also called for strengthening training programmes for the media from developing nations, notably by providing training facilities under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) international programme for the development of communications.

Pakistan, he said, was committed to freedom of expression and free media. “Pakistan is among the countries where government policies have created an enabling environment for private media,” Iqbal said. “As a result of these policies, there has been an unprecedented surge in the electronic media,” he told delegates.

source dawn news