Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri. Courtesy Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In statement, Foreign Affairs Ministry claims such reports are a total ‘fabrication’
Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Tuesday rejected as “fabricated” reports in some sections of the media—notably daily Dawn and the Middle East Eye—that Islamabad was under “pressure” to recognize Israel.
In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Prime Minister Imran Khan had “clearly articulated Pakistan’s position that unless a just settlement of the Palestine issue, satisfactory to the Palestinian people, was found, Pakistan could not recognize Israel.”
He said that the prime minister, in a media interview last week, had stressed the Pakistan’s policy in this regard was rooted in the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
“The prime minister’s remarks are an unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s position on the subject, leaving no room for baseless speculation,” he added.
The Foreign Office statement stressed that Pakistan would continue to support a two-state solution, in line with relevant United Nations and Organization for Islamic Cooperation resolution, for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East. It said that, per international law, Israel and Palestine should return to their pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine.
On Monday, the Middle East Eye had alleged that Prime Minister Khan had told local media “Israel’s deep influence in the U.S.” was behind pressure on Islamabad to recognize Israel. He had stressed that this would never happen until a settlement that satisfied the people of Palestine had been achieved.