PM backs Twitter drive for solidarity with Palestinians
ISLAMABAD / MULTAN, MAY 13: To express solidarity with the people of Palestine, who are treated savagely by Israeli security forces, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday joined trending Twitter campaigns #We stand with Palestine and #We stand with Gaza.
Joining millions of Twitter account holders who have posted similar messages of support for the Palestinians under attack by Israel, the prime minister tweeted with a single line post: “I am PM of Pakistan and #We Stand with Gaza, #We Stand with Palestine.”
The prime minister also shared an excerpt of an article written by Noam Chomsky, the American philosopher and historian, in which he had mentioned an old man in Gaza holding a placard that read: “You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all, humiliate us all but I am to blame: I shot a rocket back.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Khan
received a telephone call from President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the
two leaders exchanged views on Israel’s heinous attacks on Al Aqsa mosque and
the worshippers inside as well as on Gaza violating all norms of humanity and
international law. They vowed to work together, especially at the United
Nations, to jointly mobilise the international community to help stop these
attacks, said a press release issued by the PM Office.
Discusses issue with Erdogan on phone; FM urges United Nations to intervene
They agreed that the foreign
ministers of their countries would be working closely together to raise the
Palestinian issue at international level.
The regional security situation
also came under discussion between the two leaders. Appreciating Turkey’s role
in Afghan peace process, Prime Minister Khan stressed the importance of a
responsible withdrawal of US troops and said Pakistan would continue to extend
all possible support to the efforts for a political solution for durable peace
and stability in Afghanistan.
The two leaders discussed further
strengthening of bilateral relations and agreed that the momentum of high-level
exchanges between Pakistan and Turkey would continue. They also exchanged greetings
on Eidul Fitr.
During his recent visit to Saudi
Arabia, Prime Minister Khan had strongly condemned Israeli forces’ attack on
innocent worshipers while praying in Al Aqsa Mosque. He urged the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the World Muslim League (WML) to bring
together all Muslim states to give a robust response to Israel for atrocities
in Gaza that have claimed lives of several Palestinians.
A day ago, Prime Minister Khan,
during a telephonic interaction with citizens, had strongly condemned air
strikes by Israel in Gaza that have resulted in deaths of and injuries to
several innocent Palestinians, including children.
He termed it a “reprehensible
action” during the holy month of Ramazan following the increased restrictions
on fundamental freedoms of Palestinians and the attacks at Al Aqsa Mosque.
He also called upon the
international community to put an end to blatant use of force and flagrant
violation of human rights of the Palestinian people by the Israeli forces.
FM condemns Israeli air strikes
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi has expressed concern over the Israeli air strikes on Gaza and urged
the United Nations to intervene and seek an end to grave violations of human
rights of Palestinian people. “The world body should hold an urgent meeting to
take stock of the Israeli attacks on innocent Palestinians,” he said in a press
conference at his native city Multan.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the
Israeli army attacks on innocent Palestinians and the entire Muslim ummah has
grave concern over the situation,” the minister added.
Mr Qureshi said during the prime
minister’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia in which he accompanied Mr Khan, Turkish
foreign minister telephoned him and urged him to discuss the Al-Aqsa Mosque
issue with his Saudi hosts.
“We (Qureshi and his Turkish
counterpart) discussed the convening of an urgent OIC meeting and a United
Nations General Assembly session on the issue of Al Aqsa Mosque,” he said,
adding that Pakistan had agreed to the Turkish initiative, while Iran, Turkey
and Indonesia had backed the stance taken by Pakistan.
The foreign minister called for
an urgent meeting of the OIC on the issue. “There was need that all Muslim
countries should unitedly raise voice over the Palestine issue, which would
make the world take notice of the Israel’s flagrant violation of human rights of
the Palestinians,” he added.
The foreign minister said Saudi
Arabia had also strongly condemned the attacks on the Palestinians.
About the prime minister’s recent
visit to Saudi Arabia, Mr Qureshi said the Kingdom had decided to invest
additional $500 million to strengthen Pakistan’s energy sector. “It would help
overcome the imbalance in the country’s energy mix, as the investment for
exploring alternative and renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and
hydel power,” he added.
He said the three-day Saudi
visit, undertaken on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, had
helped defuse the designs of “detractors”.
The minister said Pakistan
enjoyed good relationship with Saudi Arabia. “With the initiative of Saudi-Pak
Strategic Supreme Council, ad hoc arrangement has now been changed into
institutional one, which would be based on three pillars: security and
political pillar to be headed by the foreign ministers, economic outreach led
by the interior ministers and cultural and communication one led by the
ministers for information and broadcasting,” he added.
Mr Qureshi said the Saudi crown
prince would pay his second visit to Pakistan soon and a delegation of Saudi
officials would visit Pakistan after Eidul Fitr to be followed by a two-day
visit by the foreign minister to finalise arrangements for the crown prince’s visit.
The foreign minister said Saudi Arabia had allocated a special manpower quota for Pakistani workers under its 2030 development vision, which would create jobs for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis.
Mr Qureshi said the issue of visa
with Kuwait had been resolved, besides the problems faced by Pakistani families
living in that country.
He said Iran had lifted ban on
import of Pakistani Kino (oranges), which was in force for the last 12 years.
It would benefit Pakistani farmers, exporters and the national economy, he
added.
Talking about Shehbaz Sharif, the
minister said the PML-N leader should better face corruption cases instead of
going abroad. “His brother Nawaz Sharif was allowed to go abroad on medical
grounds on Shehbaz’s guarantee. However, Nawaz Sharif appears to be healthy as
is evident from his political activities in London. Shehbaz is answerable to
the nation and to the court in this regard and the court should take notice of
the situation,” he added.
South Punjab
Mr Qureshi said job quota would
be fixed for youth from south Punjab and a separate annual development plan
(ADP) for south Punjab would be presented in the coming budget.
He said only 17 per cent of development budget of Punjab used to be utilised in south Punjab in the past and the rest was spent elsewhere in the province. “Now the development fund allocated for south Punjab under the ADP would only be utilised on the projects undertaken in the region,” he added.
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COURTESY DAWN NEWS
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