ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday he would represent Pakistan at the upcoming Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Jeddah on Mar. 7, where the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the Palestinian cause will be discussed. 

The OIC meeting will reportedly take place next month amid backlash and uproar from Arab and OIC countries over US President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to redevelop Gaza into an international beach resort, after resettling Palestinian inhabitants. The US president called on Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians, with the remarks drawing sharp reactions from both countries as well as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others. 

Dar, who was in New York on a three-day visit to the US to attend a United Nations conference on multilateralism this week, told reporters he had discussed Trump’s proposal with the foreign ministers of Iran, Egypt, Malaysia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye recently.

“He said reportedly Arab leaders were scheduled to meet on the situation on Feb. 27 and Gulf leaders on Mar. 5 ,which would follow the extraordinary CFM meeting on Mar. 7 in Jeddah in which he would represent Pakistan,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. 

Dar pointed out that Pakistan had also issued a strong statement on proposals to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, saying that they had all the right to their land.

Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister, said despite limited resources Pakistan sent several consignments of relief goods to Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. He said Pakistan also hosted around 200 Palestinian medical students, allowing them to complete their medical education in Pakistani medical colleges.

Israel’s war on Gaza, which began after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2 million population by laying waste to swathes of neighborhoods, schools and hospitals. A six-week uneasy truce announced on Jan. 19 between Hamas and Israel ended 15 months of war. 

Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

The South Asian country regularly sent relief supplies for the people of Gaza during Israel’s 15-month war.