ISLAMABAD: The Israeli Prime Minister’s unilateral announcement of his intention to annex territories in the occupied West Bank as a re-election promise, “is a dangerous trend and threatens world peace and security,” said Pakistan’s Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mehmood, who led the country’s delegation during Sunday’s extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was not present at the meeting.
The 16th extraordinary meeting of its kind was called by the OIC Secretariat at the request of Saudi Arabia as Chair of the 14th Islamic Summit, following Netanyahu’s annexation pledge days ahead of a hotly contested election to be held on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the Saudi Foreign Minister, Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, a press release stated.
Mehmood “appealed to OIC members, United Nations and the international community to revive their obligation toward the people of Palestine,” and added that “the UN and the OIC members should condemn such irresponsible announcements, being used as party slogans in the election campaign, which can jeopardize peace in the region.”
Furthermore, Mehmood drew strong comparisons between the “unspeakable suffering” of the Kashmiri and Palestinian people who shared a history of “over seven decades of occupation” and drew attention to the communications blackout and arrests taking place in Indian-administered Kashmir since August 5th, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved to abrogate the region’s special legal status.
Mehmood reaffirmed Pakistan’s stance that the establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian state on the basis of internationally agreed parameters and with Jerusalem as its capital, was the “only way to bring peace and stability in Middle East.”
Netanyahu’s pledge “dangerous trend,” Pakistan warns at OIC meeting
Netanyahu’s pledge “dangerous trend,” Pakistan warns at OIC meeting
- Federal Minister Shafqat Mehmood drew strong parallels between situations in Kashmir and Palestine
- Said contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as capital only hope for peace
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
