Pakistan urges peace through tolerance at UN Nowruz celebration

NEW YORK: “It is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the values of tolerance, solidarity, and harmony, and a common aspiration for a peaceful, just and prosperous world,” Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said.

She was talking on the occasion of Nowruz celebrations at the United Nations Headquarters where hundreds of diplomats and UN officials joined in  Nowruz festivities, which marks the advent of spring.

Coordinated by the Mission of Iran and Turkey, the other participating countries in the festival — Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — presented their traditional dishes that visitors sampled.

Among the most visited was Pakistan’s stall serving delicious biryani, Seekh kabab, samosas as well as deserts like gulab jaman, gajjar ka halwa and burfi.

Greeting the visitors at Pakistan’s stall was Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, who underscored the significance of Nowruz as an occasion encourages reconciliation and good neighbourliness that lead to peace.

“At a time when intolerance, xenophobia and Islamophobia threaten the world we live in, Nowruz shines a light of hope and optimism by its message of a new beginning, of seeking peace through tolerance and promoting dialogue and reconciliation among peoples,” the Pakistani envoy said.

Ambassador Lodhi said that as Pakistan’s contribution to internationalizing Nawroz, it became a proud co-sponsor, along with 12 other member states, including Iran, in efforts to preserve the culture associated with Nawroz through a General Assembly Resolution adopted in 2010.