Hello defence lovers! The Maldives is going to replace Turkey as UNGA president after India’s vote. In this article, we are going to discuss why this is a huge diplomatic victory for India.
Turkey’s pro-Pakistan approach has compelled India to act against it. Now with India’s vote, the representative of Maldives will replace the representative of Turkey as the president of the United Nations General assembly. The Turk representative Volkan Bozkir who is the current president of UNGA since 16 September 2020 has issued many pro-Pakistan statements recently.
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What Is United Nations General Assembly?
United Nations General assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the United Nations comprising of all 193 members. The assembly meets in regular sessions each year. The UNGA elects the non-permanent members of the security council and the members of other UN councils and organs and on the recommendation of the Security Council appoints the Secretary-General. UNGA is empowered to make only non-binding recommendations to the states.
Volkan Bozkir’s Biased Approach
Recently Bozkir made visited Pakistan where he met the external affairs minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Prime minister Imran khan. He was awarded the second-highest civilian award of Pakistan. Standing in Pakistan he made completely biased and anti-India comments which are unacceptable from the UNGA president.
According to Bozkir the Kashmir issue and the Palestine issue is the same the only difference is that Kashmir does not get international attention. According to him, Pakistan has the right to raise the Kashmir issue on international forums.
“When an incumbent President of the UN General Assembly makes misleading and prejudiced remarks, he does great disservice to the office he occupies. The President of the UN General Assembly’s behaviour is truly regrettable and surely diminishes his standing on the global platform.”
Statement of Ministry of external affairs
Maldives Representative- The New UNGA President
On 7 June 2021, Maldives Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected as the 76th president of the United Nations General Assembly with an overwhelming majority of 143 votes in favour and only 43 votes in against.
Maldives had announced in 2018 that it will be contesting for the UNGA president post in 2021. India at that time had promised the Maldives its support. The Maldives has always been a pro-Indian country. Now with the diplomacy, India has a pro-Indian country’s representative as the UNGA president.
Afganistan was another candidate which was contesting for the UNGA president post. The Countires which have veto power in the security council are not allowed to contest for this post.
How This Will Benefit India?
Thus it is a great diplomatic victory for India as the anti-Indian and pro-Pakistan UNGA president has been removed and now pro-Indian Maldives Minister Abdulla Shahid is the new UNGA president. Now Pakistan cannot use United Nations to spread its propaganda in the world. It cannot use the UN as a medium of fake news, propaganda, and hatred messages. Pakistan won’t be able to raise its so-called Kashmir issue in the UN. This will also limit Turkey’s use of the UN for political gains. The Maldives can now have greater representation in the UN. Thus it is a win-win situation for both India and the Maldives.
Having a Pro-Indian president in the UNGA is always beneficial for India as the Indian interests in the UN would be safeguarded now.
