ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians since October and reduced the enclave to a wasteland.
Dar is in Jordan for the ‘Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza’ conference jointly organized by Jordanian King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
On the sidelines of the conference, Dar met Guterres and commended his leadership and proactive role in raising concerns over the war in Gaza on the international stage.
“Reiterating Pakistan’s strong and unequivocal condemnation of the indiscriminate and brutal use of force by Israel against the Palestinians, the Deputy Prime Minister called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza, return of the displaced Palestinians, and ensuring accountability for the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by Israel,” the foreign office said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday backed a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and urged the Palestinian group to accept the deal aimed at ending the eight-month-long war.
Hamas welcomed the adoption of the US-drafted resolution and said in a statement that it was ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan “that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance.”
Russia abstained from the UN vote, while the remaining 14 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution supporting a three-phase ceasefire plan laid out by Biden on May 31 that he described as an Israeli initiative.
The resolution welcomes the new ceasefire proposal, states that Israel has accepted it, calls on Hamas to agree to it and “urges both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”
Pakistani deputy PM calls for ceasefire in meeting with UN chief on sidelines of Gaza conference
https://arab.news/z7cvs
Pakistani deputy PM calls for ceasefire in meeting with UN chief on sidelines of Gaza conference
- Dar is in Amman for ‘Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza’ conference
- Around 37,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in eight-month-long war
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
