FM Dar To Participate in UN Security Council Briefing on Palestine

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar will visit New York on 18 February to participate in the high-level United Nations Security Council briefing on the situation in Palestine.

The meeting will be chaired by the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, in her capacity as President of the Security Council.

During the briefing, the DPM/FM will reaffirm Pakistan’s principled and consistent position on Palestine.

Pakistani Foreign Office on Tuesday said the Foreign Minister will reiterate Pakistan’s strong opposition of Israel’s recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank, emphasize the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, full implementation of Security Council resolution 2803, scaled-up humanitarian assistance, and the early commencement of Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.

The DPM/FM will also underscore Pakistan’s continued engagement with international and regional partners, including the Group of Eight Arab and Islamic countries and the United States, in support of a just and lasting peace, anchored in international law, leading to the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

On the margins of the visit, the DPM/FM will hold bilateral meetings with counterparts to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Pakistan has been engaging in active diplomacy on the question of Palestinian rights and Palestinian statehood in the face of brutal atrocities committed by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza and West Bank. Pakistan has decided to participate in the proceedings of the Gaza Board of Peace which has been constituted under the UN Security Council Resolution as a governing body for war torn Gaza.

In the meanwhile Israeli government has initiated plans to usurp land in the West Bank where Palestinian have been squeezed out of their ancestral property through illegal methods of Israeli settlers and ISraeli Defense Forces.

Pakistan is actively considering sending troops to Gaza to participate in peacekeeping under the auspices of the International Stabilization Force. The Pakistani government has made their participation in the international stabilization force conditional with the UN Security council Mandate. Pakistan has also told the Trump Administration that its troops would not take part in disarming of Palestinian groups.

Pakistan has also expressed the hope that the proceedings of the Gaza Board of Peace would ultimately lead towards the establishment of Palestinian statehood.

There is a strong opinion within Pakistani official circles that believe that Pakistan should send its troops to Gaza only if other Muslim countries also send their troops to be part of the International Stabilization Force.

Pakistan’s diplomacy on Gaza and Palestinian rights is essentially part of the collective diplomacy that 8 Muslim countries are actively pursuing to bring stability to war torn Gaza.