Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York Friday afternoon to attend 70th UNGA session.Our ambassador to UN Maliha Lodhi and Foreign Secretary Azaz Chaudhry insisted on media briefing that this session is historic because of items on its agenda and one of these important items was adoption of 2030 sustainable development Summit. Both diplomats also claimed that no Pakistani PM ever had such a busy schedule in UN as Mian Sahib had this time. I have no reasons not to believe what excellency Maliha Lodhi and Azaz Chaudhry sahab described was right.
But then Mian Nawaz Sharif missed an historic opportunity.He did not attend the opening session of the SUMMIT which adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development . Apparantly Mian sahab didn’t reach New York because no body could dare to wake him up early in London. Since he departed from london late in the morning he arrived at New York late in the afternoon and missed the historic session, where in a very rare show heads of all five permanent members of the Security Council were present personally to show their seriousness.They, along with leaders of 188 other nations made promise to all people every where that poverty would be ended in its all forms, inequality and discrimination will be wiped out and climate change issue will be tackled in next 15 years.
Ambassador Maliha Lodhi defended her boss’s absence, saying the Summit is still on and Mian sahab will not only attend it but will make a speech as well. She also tried to explain very softly that Pakistan was represented in the opening session of the Summit by top Pakistani officials. However the world media never noticed absence of Mian Nawaz Sharif or presence of top Pakistani diplomats in the Summit. The focus of attention was brave, adorable and charming Malala Yousafzai who was flanked by 193 young people holding lanterns. She urged world leaders to “promise that every child will have the right to safe, free, and quality primary and secondary education.” “Education is not a privilege, education is a right,” she said. “Education is peace.” Yousafzai also used the speech to shine light on “the tragedies that millions of children are still suffering,” from the girls abducted by Boko Haram to children fleeing Syria with their families. After her address, she urged world leaders to “take all these issues more seriously” and give them more attention. “They should think about their own children. No world leader would want their own daughter, their own son to be neglected in education, to be neglected in society, and to not be given full rights,” she told reporters. “They should look at the world from a different perspective and look at all children as their children.”
When in this first session of the Summit ,described as historic by our top diplomats, world leaders were making pledges by raising their hands to achieve sustainable development goals Mian Nawaz Sharif was perhaps in his bed getting ready for breakfast with his family in London. A top official said that he was not worried because Pakistan was being represented by Malala Yousafzai.
