OIC moot: Palestine, Israel living in peace is our goal

President Mamnoon, in speech delivered in Urdu, says people of Pakistan consider Palestine issue as their own


APP March 07, 2016
President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo receives Pakistan President, Mamnoon Hussain on arrival at the conference venue. PHOTO: PPI

JAKARTA:


President Mamnoon Hussain said on Monday that peace in the Middle East would remain elusive without the resolution of the Palestine issue and called upon the international community to play its role in finding a just solution in light of the UN resolutions.


“Two states (Palestine and Israel), living side by side in peace and security is the goal that we ought to pursue,” the president said in his address at the fifth Extraordinary Session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Palestine and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), held in the Indonesian capital.

The OIC summit titled “United for just solution” hosted by Indonesia at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, gathered heads of state and representatives from 49 Muslim countries to find a solution to the Palestine issue and voice concern over the growing Israeli atrocities.



President Mamnoon delivered his speech in Urdu, the national and official language of Pakistan. This was the second time President Mamnoon delivered his speech in Urdu at an international forum. Earlier, he had addressed the Internet Conference held in China’s Wuzhen city last December.

He categorically spoke about the “apartheid policies” of Israel. Mamnoon mentioned Israel’s use of excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force against unarmed innocent Palestinians.

“All Israeli measures including settlements, separation wall, excavation beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque and eviction of Palestinians from their homes, must stop,” he said.

President Mamnoon said the government and the people of Pakistan considered the issue of Palestine as their own. He reiterated Pakistan’s stance for a complete withdrawal of Israel from occupied Arab territories and the right of the Palestinian people to an independent and viable State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Sharif as its capital.

He regretted that the Muslim world was far from realising the common causes most notably in support of the Palestinian and other Muslim population such as in Jammu and Kashmir that remained under foreign occupation.

Indonesian President Juko Widodo said OIC was established following the occupation of Al-Quds in 1969 and stressed that the organisation needed to enforce its effective role in resolution of this long-standing issue.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli operation was the violation of international and human rights. He said it was the time to end the longest occupation in the history and Palestine be made an independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

Secretary General OIC Iyad Ameen Madani called for enhancing the efforts for resolution of Palestine issue and for providing assistance to address the social and healthcare needs of Palestinians.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2016.

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