ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi called for securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as he addressed a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states in Cameroon, Pakistan’s foreign office said on Friday.
Qazi led the Pakistan delegation to the two-day OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting on Aug. 29-30, where he highlighted the ongoing Israeli military actions in Gaza and the West Bank as well as conflicts across the world, fueled by endemic poverty, terrorist and extremist groups and external interventions.
Pakistan’s top diplomat said the raison d’être of the OIC dictated “determined action” to respond to Israel’s ongoing military campaign against the Palestinian people and the depredations against Islam’s most sacred sites and symbols, noting that the war on Gaza had killed over 40,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million others.
“We must urgently secure an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank; ensure unrestricted humanitarian aid to Gaza; prevent the spread of the conflict to the entire Middle East, while holding Israel accountable for its criminal assassinations and violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran, Lebanon and other States,” Qazi was quoted as saying by the Pakistani foreign office.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October last year, the South Asian country has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations and demanded international powers and multilateral bodies stop Israeli military actions. Pakistan has also dispatched several aid consignments for the Palestinians.
The two-day event was held in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaoundé, where the top Pakistani diplomat also spoke about challenges facing the Muslim world, including rising Islamophobia.
He said Islamophobia had emerged as a global crisis, marked by frequent desecration of the Holy Qur’an, attacks on mosques, stereotyping of Muslims and acts of discrimination and violence against them.
“We must work within the OIC, including through the OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Islamophobia, to reach out to the United Nations to develop an Action Plan to Combat Islamophobia,” Qazi urged.
