Waheed Ahmed (Former Ambassador and Senior Analyst): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at UN General Assembly would definitely be touching upon the socio-economic, political and current issues that the world is facing at the moment. On the political scene, there are two or three issues that are very important for us and for the region as well. We have Kashmir issue where the human rights situation is aggravating. We have Palestinian issue and we have unstable Afghanistan and terrorism which we are facing at the moment. These are some of the issues at political front. On the economic front, I think the PM would be touching upon the issues related to concessional loans to the developing countries and restructuring the loans. There may be some statements about the climate change and other issues which we are facing like threats of global warming and floods. I expect the PM will give a policy statement on behalf of Pakistan on these issues.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, the PM will have some bilateral meetings with world leaders and he would be speaking about the issues that concern us like Kashmir issue.

Professor Dr. Amir Raza (IR Expert): Unfortunately at the UN, we see that different countries, especially the world powers, remain divided on some issues, and if they are not divided on the issues, we see that the position they take does not make the situation better. It seems that this forum is only for expressing your thoughts on different issues. I have never witnessed any landmark achievement by Pakistan at the UN in which it raised an issue and stimulated a practical action. Speaking honestly, there are many issues of practicality which are stopping us from playing an effective and consistent role in the UN.  

The most important issue at present is the situation of Gaza, Palestine. There is issue of the act of escalating conflict further in the region by Israel. These issues need immediate and long term solutions. There is an issue of climate change which should be addressed at the UN General Assembly. The issue of terrorism is also important for us.

To become effective on any forum, we have to make ourselves very strong economically so much so that other countries should consider our reservations on the issues. There should be betterment in our democratic system and security situation which could consequently result in foreign direct investment and economic stability.