Dar heads to Jordan for Jerusalem meeting

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departed for Jordan on Tuesday to participate in a high-level ministerial meeting on occupied Jerusalem, where Arab and Islamic countries are expected to coordinate a unified position on the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territory.

According to the Foreign Office, Dar left for Amman on a one-day visit at the invitation of Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi.

During the visit, Pakistan will reaffirm its longstanding support for the Palestinian cause while joining regional consultations on the latest developments in occupied Jerusalem.

In a post on X, the FO said the deputy prime minister would "reaffirm Pakistan's unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their just cause".

The Ministerial Meeting on Jerusalem, scheduled for Wednesday (today), will bring together foreign ministers from Arab League member states and a group of Islamic countries to discuss the worsening situation in the region.

The FO said the participating foreign ministers would also call on Jordan's King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein during the visit.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Dar is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts to exchange views on regional developments, including the humanitarian situation in Palestine.

The Foreign Office described Dar's participation as "a manifestation of Pakistan's principled support for the Palestinian people" and its commitment to the establishment of an "independent, sovereign and contiguous" State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

Pakistan has consistently joined other Muslim countries in condemning what it describes as the continued incursions by extremist Israeli settlers into the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site in occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed.