Pakistan demands unconditional Gaza ceasefire

Dar addresses FMs preparatory meeting for the 15th session of Islamic Summit conference in Gambia

BANJUL:

As the foreign ministers of the OIC countries gathered ahead of the Islamic Summit, Pakistan called for the declaration of an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of the inhuman siege, and the opening of a humanitarian corridor, besides urging the international community to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes in Gaza.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in his address at the Preparatory Meeting of Foreign Ministers for the 15th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held on Thursday, also called for an end to the indiscriminate use of force and the return of the displaced people.

Dar, who arrived in the Gambian capital city of Banjul on Wednesday for the OIC Islamic Summit, also emphasised the UN Security Council’s role in implementing its resolution 2728 for cessation of hostilities, asking Israel to halt all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and relinquish all usurped Palestinian properties.

The theme of this year's summit is "Enhancing Unity and Solidarity through Dialogue for Sustainable Development." During the meeting, Pakistan was unanimously elected as the Vice-Chair of the Bureau of Foreign Ministers' Preparatory Meeting for the 15th Islamic Summit of the OIC.

Dar expressed Pakistan's deep concern about the ongoing genocide and starvation of Gaza people and called for the reactivation of the OIC's Ministerial Committee on Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, offering Pakistan's assistance to the body.

The deputy prime minister and foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support for the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and stated that the only permanent solution to the current crisis lies in the creation of a secure, viable, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine based on the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

He strongly condemned the oppressive actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), including extrajudicial killings and media blackouts. He pledged Pakistan's unwavering diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination as mandated by relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.

Dar stressed the imperative of joint action by the OIC to confront rising Islamophobia, which was manifested by an increasing number of incidents of discrimination, violence, and incitement against Muslims around the world.

He stated that while global social media platforms had set for themselves a clear understanding and responsibility for content relating to "antisemitism" and "Holocaust denial," the same was not the case for blasphemous and anti-Islamic content that was responsible for widespread distress among Muslims and the global wave of Islamophobia.

The deputy prime minister urged the OIC to formulate a joint strategy to influence global information networks and platforms, particularly global social media platforms, to harmonize their application of content regulation policies for blasphemous, anti-Islamic, and Islamophobic content.

During the preparatory meeting, the OIC foreign ministers adopted the report of the Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and finalized various documents, including the Resolution on the Issue of Palestine, the Final Communique of the OIC Summit Conference, and the Banjul Declaration.