The Foreign Office (FO) has stated the reports claiming Prime Minister Imran Khan has accepted Israel, as fabricated. This was said to be done on part of the PM in wake of the pressure from the United States as to promote peace between several Arab states and Tel Aviv.
The FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said on Tuesday, ‘The prime minister 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.’ This was in effect to a report being published a day earlier claiming the premier to having deemed the pressure by the United States as to be extreme during the Trump reign.
The spokesman further added, ‘For just, comprehensive and lasting peace, Pakistan will continue to support a two-state solution in accordance with the relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions as well as international law, with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine.’
In an interview in August, Prime Minister Imran Khan had clearly stated that Pakistan could not recognize Israel as a state unless it gave freedom to Palestine. This was in accordance to a statement of Quaid e Azam back in 1948. ‘If we recognize Israel and ignore tyranny faced by the Palestinians, we will have to give up (the cause of) Kashmir as well, and this we cannot do.’ said Imran Khan.
