ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Tuesday responded to reports of a group of Pakistani journalists traveling to Israel, saying it was not “possible” under the existing rules.
Israel Hayom, a Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper, last week published a report that a 10-member Pakistani delegation of journalists, intellectuals and influencers had visited Israel for a week.
English-language Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post said this week these Pakistanis visited Israel to learn about the Holocaust and the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has consistently called for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and pre-1967 borders.
“The Government of Pakistan has noted reports regarding Pakistani journalists traveling to Israel. In this regard, it is clarified that Pakistani passports explicitly state they are ‘not valid for travel to Israel’,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said in response to media queries.
“Therefore, no such visit is possible under existing regulations.”
The Hayom newspaper report said the ten Pakistani journalists and researchers, including two women, arrived in Israel this month and carried passports declaring their invalidity for travel to Israel.
“Despite this, they bravely accepted an invitation from Sharaka, an organization working to strengthen relations between Israel and South Asian countries,” the report said. “To protect the delegation members, their passports were not stamped, and publication of their visit was delayed until they returned safely home.”
However, the Foreign Office in Islamabad said Pakistan’s position on Israel “remains unchanged.”
“Pakistan does not recognize Israel and steadfastly supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders,” it said.
The South Asian country has consistently called for a cessation of Israeli military campaign in Gaza and strongly condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes in the territory last Tuesday, saying they could fully reignite the 17-month-old war that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians.
Islamabad has also dispatched more than two dozen aid consignments for the Palestinian people since Israel began pounding Gaza in Oct. 2023.
“Pakistan reiterates its unwavering commitment to a just and peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Palestinian people,” the Pakistani Foreign Office added.
Pakistani journalists’ visit to Israel not ‘possible’ under existing rules, Islamabad says
https://arab.news/m6w64
Pakistani journalists’ visit to Israel not ‘possible’ under existing rules, Islamabad says
- Israeli media reported a 10-member Pakistani delegation this month visited Israel for a week
- Islamabad says its position on Israel ‘remain unchanged,’ reiterates its support for Palestine
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
