Pakistan has warned against linking Islam with terrorism in the name of the global fight against terror.
"The global campaign against terrorism cannot be reduced to a slogan slandering Islam or any other religion or race," Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Monday.
Maleeha Lodhi further said that there was a need to examine the reasons as to why terrorism – despite a global campaign against this menace – continues to evolve in new and more virulent forms across ever extending geographic regions, threatening peace and security.
She also underscored the need to address the causes that create terrorist recruits like unresolved internal and inter-state conflicts, illegal use of force, external aggression and intervention, foreign occupation, denial of self-determination, political and economic injustice and the marginalization and alienation of communities and groups.
"It is only by addressing these underlying causes can the world community erode the appeal of the narratives of hate and hostility which provide the oxygen for the existence and growth of terrorism," she added.
Talking about her own country, Lodi said that Pakistan was suffering from region-based and externally supported terrorist acts aimed at destroying and disrupting the life of the people.
However, she added that Pakistan was determined and fully capable of repelling such acts of terror and pointed out that a multi-pronged strategy – the military-led Zarb-e-Azb operation – had helped to destroy terrorist organizations and constrain their ability to carry out lethal attacks.
"This comprehensive approach has succeeded in expelling terrorist organizations from our territory and greatly constrained their ability to carry out lethal attacks, as evident from the dramatic decline in the number of such attacks, despite cowardly attack in Lahore," Lodhi said.
