Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, addresses the general debate of the 77th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 23 September 2022).

Describing the “biblical flood” that left one third of his country under water, the Prime Minister of Pakistan told the General Assembly that “the question to raise here is quite simple: why are my people paying the price of such high global warming through no fault of ours?”

Addressing Member States on Friday (23 Sep), Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif stressed that his country has “no contribution” in the global warming causing climate change.

“Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking into at our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this. The dual cost of global inaction and climate injustice are having a crippling effect on both our treasury and our people right here, right now,” said Sharif.

The Prime-Minister said that, as he stood in the podium, his “heart and mind have not been able to leave home.”

Sharif added, “Standing here, I still feel that I am visiting one of the flood affected areas of my country. No words can describe the shock we are living through, or how the face of the country lies transformed.”

The Head of Government described “40 days and 40 nights” of rain that broke “centuries of weather records, challenging everything we knew about disaster and how to manage it.”

Even today, Sharif said, “huge swathes of the country are still under water, submerged in an ocean of human suffering.” According to him, “millions of climate migrants are still looking for dry land, to pitch their tents on.”

“Pakistan has never seen a more stark and devastating example of the impact of global warming. Life in Pakistan has changed forever,” declared the Prime Minister.

For Sharif, “one thing is very clear: what happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan.”

The Pakistani leader noted that, as the Secretary-General recalled in his visit earlier this month, “hotspots, like Pakistan, fall in the 10 most climate vulnerable list of countries, but emit less than 1 percent of the greenhouse gases that are burning our planet.”

Sharif concluded saying that “Pakistanis are known to be exceptionally resilient people” and are fully committed to fight this battle until they have “rebuilt Pakistan to face the growing challenges of this century.”

General debate website: https://gadebate.un.org/

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Screenshot credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

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