ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s political parties on Wednesday reiterated their longstanding position on the Palestine dispute, saying they would never recognize Israel as an independent state following an explanation from Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the subject a day earlier in the National Assembly.
“Pakistan consistently supports a two-state solution with the pre-1967 Palestinian borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif [Jerusalem] as its capital,” the foreign minister said in response to a point of order raised by an opposition lawmaker, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, in parliament on Tuesday.
Asif had demanded the foreign minister to clarify the government’s position on the issue of Palestine and Kashmir, the two internationally recognized disputed territories for decades.
“Pakistan has neither changed nor deviated from its historical stance on the issue of Palestine,” the foreign minister said, adding that the ruling party’s position on the disputed territory was the same as that of the opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Islamabad has always supported the Palestinian cause for a free and independent state in a contested region of the world that is considered sacred by both Muslims and Jews. More than 135 United Nations member countries recognize Palestine as an independent state, but Israel and some other countries, including the United States, do not make this distinction. On the other hand, many Muslim countries including Pakistan do not recognize Israel as an independent state.
“It is part of our faith to stand by the Palestinians against Israeli oppression, and we’ll continue doing this without any hesitation,” Senator Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, chairman PML-N, told Arab News on Wednesday.
He said that there was a “national consensus” on the Palestinian issue and “no government or political party can deviate from it.”
Recalling the historical importance of the issue, Haq recalled that the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, fully supported the Palestinians in his numerous speeches and statements. “The issue of Palestine is part of our basic ideology, and we are bound to protect interests of the Palestinians,” he said.
In a bid to resolve the decades-old conflict, US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” plan, announced on Jan. 28, referred to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognized Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank.
The plan drew widespread criticism from the Arab world and was rejected by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which urged “all member states not to engage with this plan or to cooperate with the US administration in implementing it in any form.”
Sehar Kamran, a senior PPP leader, said that her party had always stood with the Palestinians and would expect the government to raise the issue at all international forums including the United Nations.
“We are firmly supporting the Palestinian cause, and there is no way that any political party, let alone the PPP, can think of recognizing Israel as an independent state,” she told Arab News on Wednesday.
Kamran urged the government to stand by its position on Palestine “as per the aspirations of the people of Pakistan.” “It’s good to know that the foreign minister has eloquently rebuffed rumors about recognition of Israel,” she added.
The country’s religio-political parties also supported the government’s stance of a two-state solution with Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital.
“There are no ifs and buts when it comes to Palestine,” Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, a Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) lawmaker, told Arab News on Wednesday. “The whole parliament and the people of Pakistan will continue to support our Palestinian brothers and sisters in their just struggle for freedom and civil rights,” he said.