Fostering respect for other cultures and beliefs will help the international community face the growing challenges of rise of extremism and threats to peace and security, India said on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year that marks the beginning of spring.
"...The international community also faces a number of challenges of peace and security, rise of extremism and the like. Celebrations like Nowruz will help us in facing these challenges by fostering mutual understanding and respect for each other's culture, traditions and beliefs," India's Ambassador to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said at the International Day of Nowruz, commemorated yesterday.
The International Day of Nowruz was proclaimed in 2010 by the General Assembly, and India has been co-sponsoring the commemoration at the world body along with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Akbaruddin said the Parsi community, which celebrates Nowruz,is woven integrally into the cultural fabric of India.
The community has contributed significantly towards building and strengthening modern India, he said.
The community's growth in India, from the first migrants who landed in the country centuries ago, holds a lesson on how nations can embrace migrants seeking refuge and peace "in distant lands in these troubling times," he said.
Drawing parallels between the central message of Nowruz and that of the International Day of Yoga, he said both days symbolise peace and "harmony with nature."
"This central message of Nowruz is also one of the key messages of the International Day of Yoga as underscored in the Yoga Day resolution namely 'building better individual lifestyles devoid of any kind of excesses'," he said.
He added that on the first year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the central message of Nowruz is indispensable for achieving the "transformative agenda and the goals we have set for ourselves towards sustainable development."
In his message on the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that conflict, discrimination and other violations of human rights continue to take an immense toll and the occasion should be used to spread its essential message of hope and renewal around the world.
"We must respond with compassionate action that addresses immediate suffering while tackling root causes. With its focus on good relations, environmental stewardship and lasting peace, Nowruz is an occasion to strengthen our resolve to leave no one behind in our journey to a better future," he said.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called Norwruz "an outstanding manifestation of how living cultural heritage expresses the way we understand the world and the means by which we shape it for the good of all.
Gambhir voiced India'sfirm resolve to protect all its
citizens from all acts of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
"We cannot and will not allow terrorism to prevail," she said.
Gambhir reminded the UN that the trail of the most "horrifying" and "dastardly terror attack" of 9/11 led all the way to Abbottabad in Pakistan, where Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been hiding for years and was killed by US forces.
She also noted that the land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centres of ancient times, "is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism" and attracts aspirants and apprentices from all over the world.
"The effect of its toxic curriculum are felt across the globe," she said, adding that itisironical that a country which has established itself as the global epicentre of terrorism, is preaching human rights and talks about the ostensible support for self-determination.
She also told the UN General Assembly that shortly before Pakistan gave its "hypocritical sermons" in the world body, its envoy in New Delhi was summoned in the context of the most recent of the terror attacks in Uri that claimed 18 Indian lives.
"That terrorist attack is part of a trail of continuous flow of terrorists trained and armed by our neighbour and tasked to carry out terrorist attacks in my country," she said.
Sharif raised the Kashmir issue with almost every world leader - including those from the US, the UK, Japan and Turkey - yesterday. He sought their intervention to resolve the matter.
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Pakistan's representative, exercising the Right of Reply to India's response, said the Indian government has chosen to "criticise" Sharif's statement, which "reflects the sentiments and aspirations of the oppressed people" of Jammu and Kashmir.
"The dispute of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be wished away," he said, adding Pakistan will continue to stand by the people of Kashmir and extend its "full diplomatic and political support" to their movement for freedom from "Indian oppression".
Again referring to the "cold-blooded murder" of militant Wani, he said it sparked protests across Kashmir in an "irrefutable evidence" of the Kashmiri people's rejection of "Indian occupation".
He said the right to self determination has been "promised" to the people of Kashmir by the international community through a series of Security Council resolutions.
"Although this promise has yet to be realised seven decades later, time has not weakened their resolve," he said, adding that the people of Kashmir look towards the international community, particularly the members of the UNSC, to deliver on the pledge to hold free and impartial plebiscite to enable them to decide their future.
"This is the democratic and legal right of the Kashmiri people," he said, adding that "no amount of verbiage" used by Indian delegation can "obfuscate" this reality.
