Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the United States for recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Tabled by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, the resolution was adopted unanimously by the Lower House of parliament. The resolution declared United States decision as a direct attack on the Muslim Ummah at a time when Middle East was already beset with war and conflicts.

“The National Assembly endorses the final communiqué of OIC adopted on Monday last in Jeddah and calls on the government to immediately mobilize the Organisation of Islamic Conference seeking concrete diplomatic steps against this US action,” the resolution reads, which also demands that the US government immediately take back the decision.

Earlier, while taking part in the discussion, Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarian (PPPP) parliamentary leader Naved Qamar said, “Today is a sad day … the decision of US President Donald Trump is quite unfortunate.”

“The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a deviation from already stated position of the United States on the matter,” he said, while declaring the move part of a grand design against Muslim countries.

Parliamentary leader of Pakistan Tarheek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shah Mehmood Qurashi said, “Whole Muslim Ummah including Pakistan is united on the issues of Kashmir and Palestine and the unity should continue.”

Maulana Ameer Zaman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) urged all the Muslim countries to expel ambassadors of United States by declaring them as ‘unwanted’ persons. He also urged the Muslims to boycott products of United States.

In a similar development, the Foreign Office on Thursday also strongly condemned the decision of the US president to recognize the occupied Jerusalem as the so-called capital of Israel.

In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Faisal said it was deeply regrettable that pleas from states across the globe not to alter the legal and historical status of Al-Quds Al-Sharif have been ignored.

He said the decision represented a serious violation of international laws and applicable UN Security Council resolutions, particularly UNSCR 478.

Published in Daily Times, December 8^th 2017.