ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Doha on Sunday ahead of the upcoming Arab-Islamic summit, the foreign ministry said, to express solidarity with Qatar in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes that killed at least six earlier this week.
Israel carried out airstrikes at a civilian neighborhood in Doha on Tuesday in its attempt to target Hamas leaders discussing a Gaza ceasefire proposal floated by the US. Qatar has been a key mediator in ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, hosting the Palestinian group’s political bureau as part of the process.
The unprovoked strikes drew a sharp reaction from Pakistan, which condemned the Israeli military action. Pakistan’s foreign office said on Saturday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Qatar to participate in the summit being held in Doha on Sept. 15.
“Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, has arrived in Doha to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the Ministerial meeting ahead of the Emergency #ArabIslamicSummit on Israel’s attack against #Qatar,” the foreign office said.
The ministry said Dar was received by Pakistan’s ambassador to Qatar, Pakistan’s envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and senior officials of the Qatari government upon his arrival in Doha.
Pakistan’s foreign office said earlier this week that Islamabad “accords high importance to its relations with State of Qatar” and has “strongly condemned Israeli aggression against Qatar and other regional states.”
It added that Sharif’s visit underlines Pakistan’s “unwavering support for the security and sovereignty of Qatar and its commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Pakistan has also repeatedly condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has killed nearly 65,000 people, mostly women and children, since October 2023, and called for an immediate ceasefire and war-crimes accountability.
Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and has called for a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis. Pakistan supports an independent Palestinian state as per the aspirations of the Palestinian people, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital and according to the pre-1967 borders.
