Pak, 3 others to go UN against attacks on Gaza
Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
The National Assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution expressing deep concern over the increasing oppression and brutalities being perpetrated against the people of Palestine by the Israeli apartheid regime.
The resolution, moved by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, strongly condemned the systematic and institutionalized oppression and domination of the people of Palestine by Israel.
It also denounced the systematic and brutal disenfranchisement, exclusion and ethnic cleansing of the Palestine people.
Addressing the National Assembly, the Foreign Minister in his speech said people in western counties were also staging rallies in solidarity with the Palestinians, he said and hoped that the European Union will also raise its voice against Israeli brutalities in Palestine.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that Pakistan, Turkey, Sudan and Palestine will jointly move the United Nations against Israel’s military aggression in Gaza.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the four countries would jointly demand to convene UN General Assembly meeting on the Palestine issue. The foreign minister said that he would leave for Turkey today (Tuesday) where he
would meet with his counterparts and will discuss the grave situation in Palestine.
Talking about the situation in Gaza, he said that our first responsibility is to establish a ceasefire in Palestine.
The trend on Pakistan s historic position in the Security Council and the OIC was visible. He said that Pakistan has condemned the aggression against Palestinian people.
Two important meetings on Palestine issue were held yesterday, May 16. One was a meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on Foreign Affairs and the other was a meeting of the UN Security Council. The Security Council meeting was chaired by the Chinese Foreign Minister.
Shah Mahmood said that I pay homage to the leadership of China. China tried to unite the Security Council. All members of the Security Council were convinced, but unfortunately the United States vetoed it.
He promised the House that the government would never let the issue of Palestine and Kashmir to come under fire.
Admittedly, the path is difficult, the world has a double standard, but the truth carries great weight, he added.
The resolution denounced the attacks by the apartheid Israeli regime on worshippers in Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan and attempts to stop the Azaan.
It reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the realization of the right to self-determination and other fundamental rights of Palestinians as well as for the two-state solution, based on the pre-1967 borders, and a free, secure, viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine with Al-Qud Al-Sharif as its capital.
The House called upon the UN Security Council to take necessary action to bring to an end the ongoing crimes against humanity being perpetrated against Palestinians.
It urged the United Nations to ensure Israel’s compliance with the resolutions passed by the UNSC, UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council, reaffirming the right to self-determination of the Palestinians.
Earlier, Opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif had spoken over the Palestine issue, as the middle eastern country continues to suffer massacre led by the Israeli occupation force, calling on the OIC and Arab League to soon commence a meeting on the matter.
He had said that while the people of the whole world, including non-Muslims, protest against Israeli atrocities, the international media was not reporting on it and the heads of European states were silent.
God forbid, he had said, if it were any Muslim country doing the modicum of what Israel had been doing, it would have meant war.
The only crime of Palestinians, which had silenced the international community, was that they are Muslims, he had asserted.
“Since 1948, the way that Israeli governments and their armed forces have attacked Palestinians is not hidden from anyone,” he said.
In East Jerusalem, extremists had chanted “Death to Arabs” and the entire world witnessed the attacks on innocent Palestinians after that, he said.
