Islamabad (Adnan Hameed): The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Riyad Al-Maliki, received a phone call from his counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Pakistan, Minister Jalil Abbas Gilani, who wanted to offer his condolences to the Palestinian people and their representatives in light of the magnitude of the devastating event to which the Gaza Strip is exposed.
His country rejected Israeli aggression on the Strip and expressed its dissatisfaction with the extent of the destruction. And the killing that the Palestinian people pay for in the face of the gravity of the Israeli bombing and destruction, which has not stopped for 32 days since the start of the barbaric Israeli war on the Palestinian people in Gaza.
He also affirmed that his country, as a Pakistani people, government, parties, parliament, and institutions, stands alongside the Palestinian people in their struggle to achieve their rights to freedom and the embodiment of their state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He also stressed his country’s commitment to deploying all its capabilities for the benefit of the Palestinian people and its readiness to provide everything the Palestinian people need in such inhumane conditions to which these steadfast people are exposed.
In turn, Minister Al-Maliki presented his counterpart, Minister Gilani, with details of what the state of “occupation and destruction” Israel is doing against the Strip, including killing, destruction, and cutting off water, electricity, communications, and fuel, to prevent hospitals from carrying out their duty in treating the large numbers of wounded who fill the hospitals, in addition to its targeting of civilians, especially children and women. And the elderly in their homes, in hospitals, schools, or shelters, and even targeting ambulances.
Minister Al-Maliki also explained to his counterpart the position of the State of Palestine and what is required of the international community to end the killing, stop the aggression, call for a ceasefire, and bring in what the besieged and detained people need in terms of food, medicine, drinking water, and fuel, and in removing the wounded, providing shelter for the displaced, preventing displacement, and providing protection for the Palestinian people. And return to discuss the roots of the problem and the need to open a political horizon to end the occupation and embody an independent and sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Minister Malki also touched on the increasing violence occurring by settlers and the Israeli army in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, the targeting of these invaders against defenseless civilians and residents of remote areas, preventing the movement of citizens on the roads, and other measures aimed at destabilizing the West Bank and providing excuses for wider invasion. A bigger attack on the West Bank killed the largest possible number of residents, spread terror among the residents, and forced them to flee their homes and lands.
In conclusion, the Palestinian and Pakistani ministers agreed to meet during the Islamic summit that will be held this week in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in order to better coordinate between the two countries and their positions, as well as to benefit from their presence in international forums in the interest of advancing the Palestinian cause and advancing the rights of the Palestinian people.