ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday to launch a joint effort to stop Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
For weeks since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israeli forces have been raiding Palestinian worshippers gathering in the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 42 people had been injured at the compound on Friday morning, when Israeli forces fired at them rubber-coated bullets and tear gas.
The Pakistani prime minister met the OIC’s secretary general, Hissein Brahim Taha, in Makkah on Saturday, during his three-day trip to Saudi Arabia.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited the OIC to launch a concerted effort to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque and other occupied Palestinian territories,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement after the meeting.
“He stressed that Israel must not be allowed to divide the blessed Mosque.”
Sharif also said that promoting the interests of the Muslim community was “a corner-stone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.”
He said that as the current chair of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, Pakistan was looking forward to playing a “proactive role” in matters of interest and concern to the organization’s member states.
During the meeting, Taha vowed to work closely with Pakistan on key issues of concern to the Muslim community, especially Palestine, Afghanistan and Islamophobia, the statement said.
He also reaffirmed the OIC’s support for a “just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.”
The Pakistani prime minister arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday on his first official foreign trip since assuming office on April 11.
