Daily Times

Pakistan has called on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to demand an immediate end to Israel’s deadly offensive in Palestine.

Pakistan made this call when the 120-member body’s Coordinating Bureau met in New York to discuss the “horrendous” situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem.

Addressing the meeting, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram said the Non-Aligned Movement must work for the restoration of international legality and seek a two-state solution to promote peace and stability in the region. At the same time, Ambassador Akram cautioned NAM members against succumbing to the rhetoric of the aggressor by drawing a moral or a military equivalence between a beleaguered and unarmed Palestinian people and one of the strongest militaries in the region.

“Our response has to be based on the principles, which we espouse — the principle of self-determination of peoples, the principle of struggle against foreign occupation and aggression,” the Pakistani envoy said, while voicing solidarity with the Palestinians.

“It is very disturbing to hear attempts to draw an equivalence between the aggression of the Israelis and the defence of the Palestinians,” he added in his remarks to the meeting.

“The solidarity which is required by our Palestinian brothers today is a solidarity that is based on the principle — that Israel has no business to be in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; it has no business to be in East Jerusalem; it has no business to attack Gaza…” Regretting that the UN Security Council has been blocked by one state from issuing a ceasefire call, the Pakistani envoy called for stepped up efforts so that it (that state) lifts its veto on demanding a cessation of hostilities.