Daily Times

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi landed in Turkey on Tuesday to attend the special summit on Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem), accompanied by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Punjab Chief Minister  Shehbaz Sharif.

Premier Abbasi is leading the Pakistani delegation at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit which has begun Today ( Wednesday) and the summit is being chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the OIC.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Wednesday while representing Pakistan in a meeting of the minister’s taking part in the summit said that the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its plan to shift its embassy was a clear violation of international law including several UN Security Council resolutions.
“We call upon the US to revisit its decision and submit to international legality. This is essential for the US to be seen as a credible interlocutor for the Middle East peace process and for the two-state solution,” the Foreign Minister said in his speech at the extraordinary OIC Council of Ministers meeting on Al-Quds Al Sharif in Turkey.

Khawaja Asif said it was supremely important for the US to reverse its decision in order to ameliorate regional peace and security as well as to prevent further accentuating the forces of extremism.

He said the UN Security Council must play its due role as envisaged in the UN Charter and added that if the Council was unwilling or unable to act, the UN General Assembly should be mobilized for a decision commensurate with the challenge to international law.

A two-state solution, promised by the international community to the Palestine people, remained the only viable road map for durable peace in the region and beyond, he added.

He said the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the international community at large had an opportunity to halt and reverse this unilateral decision for the sake of regional and international peace, security and stability.
“Even as we denounce the US decision, we must ponder upon our weaknesses and strengths. For the Muslim world to effectively respond to these transgressions, it is essential that we demonstrate real unity, overcome our potential differences, invest smartly in our people, promote science and technology, and above all muster the political will to shape our worlds into actions”, the foreign minister said.

Asif said that Al Quds Al Sharif was the first ‘Qibla of Islam’ and one of its three most sacred Mosques.

He said any attempt to change its status and character was tantamount to hurting and disregarding the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims all across the world.

The minister added that the OIC meeting was meant to renew solidarity with Palestinian people, to reiterate unanimous condemnation of the US decision and to reject it. He called for unity in ranks to evolve an effective response strategy.

He said the Government of Pakistan and its people fully shared these sentiments and the Parliament had adopted unanimous resolutions strongly condemning the US declaration.

Khawaja Asif said that the tragedy of Palestinians was mirrored by another misfortune, in terms of time, enormity and scale. For even decades, pointing towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir who still remain under illegal Indian occupation and their right to self-determination continuously being denied.

The Foreign Minister said as in the case of Palestine, the UN Security Council resolutions were being ignored and their struggle for their rights conveniently being projected as terrorism.